27. March 2016

In “The Lives of a Cell”, L. Thomas restated a hitherto prosaic observation as a profound conjecture, i.e, that mitochondria - the earliest aerobic bacteria - may have “created” us as a ‘symbiont utilitarian layer’ for their survival. The same can be argued for the bacteria resident in the gastrointestinal system which, to put it bluntly, may have ‘created’ us in order to feed them. There are more bacteria in the human body (>500 species) than there are human cells. Most of...

10. February 2016

Newly discovered active macromolecules are highly promising for therapy, but poor bioavailability hinders their oral use. Microencapsulation approaches, such as protein prilling into microspheres, may enable protection from gastrointestinal (GI) enzymatic degradation. This would increase bioavailability mainly for local delivery to GI lumen or mucosa. This work’s purpose was to design a novel architecture, namely a Nanotubes-in-Microgel Oral System, by prilling for protein delivery....

06. December 2015

The administration of drugs via the oral route is challenging due to the (bio)chemical aggressivity of the digestive system and to the presence of barriers that hinder cell uptake and access to the bloodstream. Indeed, the gastrointestinal tract is characterized by large variations of pH, the presence of enzymes and surfactants, and by absorption barriers such as mucus and the epithelium. More