Dr. Elisa Konofagou, professor of biomedical engineering and radiology at Columbia University, has shown for the first time that the size of molecules crossing the blood brain barrier (BBB) can be manipulated through acoustic pressure generated by an ultrasound beam. Delivering drugs to the brain is exceptionally difficult as most small molecules and all large molecules cannot cross. Konofagou combined microbubbles, bubbles with lipid or protein shells that are filled with gas, and adjustments of acoustic pressure to test the delivery of various sized sugar molecules (Dextran) to the hippocampus.
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