Gold nanoparticles with special coatings can deliver drugs
or biosensors to a cell’s interior without damaging it.
Cells are very good at protecting their precious contents —
and as a result, it’s very difficult to penetrate their membrane walls to
deliver drugs, nutrients or biosensors without damaging or destroying the cell.
One effective way of doing so, discovered in 2008, is to use nanoparticles of
pure gold, coated with a thin layer of a special polymer. But nobody knew
exactly why this combination worked so well, or how it made it through the cell
wall.