Researchers have created tiny microgel particles that can squeeze through pores just one-tenth of their size. This makes them potentially useful as a biomaterial for tasks such as drug delivery — squishy nanoparticles can be easily filtered out by the kidneys, so don't need to be degradable by the body.
Grant Hendrickson and Andrew Lyon at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta found that 116-nanometre-wide microgel particles, when subject to pressure, can pass through a material with pores of 10 nanometres — similar in diameter to those of the kidneys.
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Biomaterials: Squishy particles. Nature 464, 144 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464144e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/464144e
