New silica cases to protect vital medicines

SCIENTISTS HAVE developed a technique to deliver vital medicines around the world easier, cheaper and safer – by encasing them in silica.

Vaccines have to be kept refrigerated for storage and transportation in a so-called “cold chain” and breaks in the chain are a serious global health issue, particularly for childhood vaccination programmes in the developing world. Breaks in cold chain storage result in the loss of millions of doses of vaccines each year.

But a University of Bath team, working with the University of Newcastle, have created a technique which can keep proteins intact at high temperatures up to 100C, by encasing them in silica cages.

Silica is non-toxic and inert. Project leader Dr Asel Sartbaeva, from the University of Bath, said: “We’re very excited by the potential applications of ensilication.”