A paraphenylene-based material emits a violet blue color when irradiated with ultraviolet light. Taylor says this material has the ability to convert absorbed light into energy and could have potential application in solar cell devices.
in the body, it won't spread everywhere and cause side effects. Instead, it is directly localized where it can be most effective.” When Taylor mentioned her idea to Phyllis Leppert, M.D., Ph.D., head of the uterine fibroid center at Duke University, the two decided to combine their expertise to generate more effective treatments for the condition. Uterine fibroids are the most common gynecologic tumor in women of childbearing age, affecting nearly 40 percent of premenopausal females.
African-American women are three times more likely to get fibroids than other women and are more likely to experience symptoms such as heavy bleeding and lower back pain. Since 2008, Taylor has conducted research in this area as a fellow of the NIH’s BIRCWH (Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health) program, under the mentorship of Leppert and other Duke researchers Donald McDonnell, Ph.D., and Eric Toone, Ph.D. Taylor’s creation is a liquid when it is
SMART MATERIALS
Smart materials: objects that can respond or adapt to changes in their environment. (for example: stress, temperature, light, or pH)
a way to treat uterine fibroids
The exciting part of smart materials, in Taylor’s view, is that they can be designed for practically any purpose imaginable. For example, Taylor is adapting materials with two completely different goals in mind: to create new classes of drugs and to develop organic solar cells. Many drugs look promising in the laboratory but fail when tested in real life, either because their effects are diluted by the bloodstream or are toxic to normal cells. Taylor is trying to solve this delivery problem by encapsulating drugs within a protective bubble of smart material so the drug is released only after it has reached its target. “It is similar to making Jell-O, which can go from a liquid to a solid or a solid to a liquid when you change the temperature,” she says. “Think of the drug as fruit. When you envelop it in Jell O, it is protected when you put it into the human body. If you physically deliver it to a specific place
SMART MATERIALS:
The Power of Jell-O
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Body temp changes smart material from liquid to solid within fibroid.
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4 Drug is mixed into smart material (LiquoGel) which is liquid at room temperature.
Smart material (LiquoGel) degrades, drug seeps out into fibroid.
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Smart material/drug mixture is injected into fibroid transvaginally or transabdominally with ultrasound guidance.
Drug shrinks fibroid without injuring nearby tissue. Only a small amount of drug enters circulation.
SMART MATERIALS already in use: Electrochromic: LCD displays
Photochromic: color change lenses
Thermochromic: contact thermometer
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Illustration by Tiffany DaVanzo 31
nccu
Taylor is collaborating Dr. Phyllis Leppert of Duke University to develop more effective treatments for uterine fibroids, the most common gynecologic tumor in women of childbearing age. She has developed a smart material for delivering a drug to treat the condition directly to the tumor, minimizing side effects. The material is an injectable liquid at room temperature that solidifies once exposed to body temperature. After it reaches the tumor site, holes develop in the material’s protective shell as it degrades, and the drug then seeps out into the tumor.