Project description
A new treatment approach to deliver drugs more precisely
The challenge of precise drug delivery to the body is riddled with complexities. Inhalation of medication relies on transforming formulations into a mist spray. However, droplet coalescence often leads to erratic deposition, undermining treatment efficacy. In this context, the ERC-funded TriboCharge project tackles the challenge of precise drug deposition to the respiratory system. The project introduces a solution by charging droplets through friction with the nozzle material. This charge prevents coalescence, ensuring precise control over droplet size for targeted lung delivery. Promising applications include siRNA treatment for lung cancer and mRNA vaccination against COVID-19.
Objective
The main purpose of this proposal is to develop a radically new technology for very precisely delivering medicine to the human body. Targeted deposition of drug formulations to the lungs exhibits great promise in several treatments, e.g. siRNA treatment against lung cancer or mRNA vaccination against COVID-19. This requires oral and nasal inhalation for which spray pumps and nebulizers are widely used to transform an aqueous formulation into a soft mist spray. However producing the necessary drop size is hampered by droplet coalescence, making drops too large and polydisperse; because of this, they deposit in the wrong places. Large droplets between 10 and 50 micrometers deposit mostly in the upper respiratory tract (mouth, throat or nasal cavity) through ballistic impact on the mucosal tissue, whereas small droplets between 5 and 10 micrometers can be lifted by the airstreams and deposit mostly in
the lower respiratory tract (bronchi and lungs). Our innovation relies on the charging of drops through the friction with the nozzle material. The charged drops repel and do not coalesce, allowing precise control of their size to target e.g. the lungs. This allows to achieve safe and effective targeted deposition of drugs and /or vaccines with hitherto unequaled precision.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsHost institution
1012WX Amsterdam
Netherlands