Stanford researchers are developing medicinal gels that could be injected into the body in order to release drugs over a period of months, replacing the need for daily or weekly shots. (Image credit: Sam Moqadam/Upsplash)
Stanford researchers are developing medicinal gels that could be injected into the body in order to release drugs over a period of months, replacing the need for daily or weekly shots. (Image credit: Sam Moqadam/Upsplash) Injecting patients with a gel that would dissolve over several months could replace the need to administer daily or weekly shots. But to make this possible, researchers first had to create a Jello-like substance that could defy one of the fundamental laws of nature. Gels are formed by mixing polymers into fluids to create gooey substances useful for everything from holding hair in place to enabling contact lenses to float over the eye. Researchers want to develop gels for healthcare applications by mixing in medicinal compounds, and giving patients injections so that the gel releases the active pharmaceutical ingredient over a period of months to avoid weekly or daily needle sticks. But standing in the way is a problem that's as readily understood as the difference between using hair gel on a beach versus in a blizzard - heat and cold change the character of the gel. "We can make gels with the right slow-release properties at room temperature but once we injected them, body heat would rapidly dissolve them and release the medicines too quickly," said Eric Appel, assistant professor of materials science and engineering.
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