Achievement

Through a multi-university/industry collaborative project between the University of Minnesota (Marna Ericson, Ph.D., Department of Dermatology), Nanocopoeia, Inc. (innovators in nanoparticle-formulated drugs), and the University of Cincinnati, Kyle Rich is investigating the use of ultrasound as a method of enhancing topical drug delivery of nanotherapeutics. Kyle has demonstrated that ultrasound at 0.41 and 2.0 MHz is capable of inducing transfollicular penetration of 840 nm particles deep into dermal tissue of human skin with accumulation around dermal vasculature verifying potential as a method of delivering rigid nanoscaled drugs into skin for local and systemic delivery. Significant penetration was observed for ultrasound at intensities capable of inducing stable bubble oscillations for both frequencies suggesting that the mechanism for ultrasound-enhanced drug delivery may be different for the investigated frequencies in comparison to low-frequency (< 0.10 MHz) sonophoresis.