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Content archived on 2024-05-24

The impact of collapsing microbubbles on cells

Objective

The aim of the suggested project is to fill the gap between the nicely understood spherical bubble dynamics and the dynamics of bubbles close to in homogeneities, which is far more relevant for medical applications. This research will help to better understand the fundamental mechanics of the interactions between collapsing bubbles and soft materials such as cell walls. We will focus on a new medical application of micro bubbles, namely, their use in therapy, where the bubbles can act as vectors for directed drug delivery and gene transfection into living cells. It has been shown that the permeability of cell walls for large molecules (both drugs and genes) is dramatically increased in the presence of ultrasound micro bubbles. The nature of the mechanism behind this phenomenon is not understood today. One of the candidates for enhancing cell wall permeation are water jets, induced by collapsing bubbles: Electron micrographs of insonated blood cells show conspicuous holes in their walls. If they indeed originate from jet cavitation, this process can be controlled with great accuracy, as ultrasound can be focused onto specific areas and depths in the body: Localized therapy both trough drug delivery and gene transfection becomes possible. To clarify the role of the bubble cavitation in this process and to allow for an optimization, direct observation with an unique ultra-high speed digital camera (128 pictures at 20 million frames per second) is planned.

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. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

RGI - Research grants (individual fellowships)

Coordinator

University of Twente
EU contribution
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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