Week 1: Brainstorming and Idea Development

After the first lab, the group brainstormed and produced the following ideas:

1. Control the release of alginate (integrated with iron/medicine) using magnetic fields and variations of the density of alginate
2. A long, flexible tube made of alginate that would be inserted into the patient’s esophagus and help prevent heartburn
3. Topical applications - skin cream composed of alginate that keeps the skin moisturized
4. Utilizing alginates metal-binding properties to extract unwanted metal ions from the blood
5. A medicine that is stored within alginate gel, so that when a region of the body receives blunt physical force, the gel capsules in the blood vessel of that region break open and release some sort of steroid or painkiller

After some deliberation, the group determined that the first idea had the most potential to be both successful and doable by the group. The working idea is that the alginate capsules are filled with both the medication and iron oxide. Upon agitation from a magnetic/electric field, the iron oxide will either heat up or break through the alginate, either way releasing the medicine into the bloodstream.

There are some potential problems with this idea that will need to be addressed. First of all, the toxicity of extra iron in the blood could be problematic. This can be solved by adding iron oxide instead, which is safe in the blood as long as it stays as iron oxide. Another way of ensuring that this isn’t an issue is to include two alginate groups in the drug - one to integrate the drugs and iron with and another group that removes the excess iron from the blood.

A more precise method of ensuring the alginate releases without disturbing the blood vessel would be to link two gels together, one with iron and the drug and one with not, as shown below in figure 1. Upon the application of a magnetic field, the gel with iron would push toward the blood vessel wall, whereas the other gel would just move with it up to the wall. The non-iron gel would have to rotate to accommodate the presence of the wall, breaking open the gel and releasing the drug, as shown in figure 2.