Prof. WONG Man-sau, Professor from the Department of Food Science and Nutrition and Director from the Research Centre for Chinese Medicine Innovation (RCMI) at PolyU, and Prof. LIU Juewen from the Department of Chemistry and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Waterloo have successfully developed a novel formulation for treating dry eye diseases using nanoparticles, aptamer-functionalised liposomes.

The research titled "Aptamer-functionalized liposomes for drug delivery" was published in the Biomedical Journal in August 2024. Prof. WONG, Prof. LIU, and their research team discovered an aptamer that can bind to the corneal surface to deliver Cyclosporine A loaded in liposomes. This can mitigate the adverse effects associated with the drug and augment its therapeutic efficacy in managing dry eye disease.

Related research works have been published in three esteemed journals. The study opens up new avenues for the future of nano-based drug delivery, enabling the treatment of ocular diseases via topical eye drops that deliver natural products, supplements and small molecules. The team is now seeking industrial partners to advance the technology towards clinical application.

Wong, K.-Y., Wong, M.-S., & Liu, J. (2024). Aptamer-functionalized liposomes for drug delivery. Biomedical Journal, 47(4), 100685-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bj.2023.100685