Microbubbles for Molecular Imaging and Drug Delivery

In my thesis, microbubbles (MBs) for ultrasound (US) imaging, ultrasound molecular \\nimaging, and drug delivery were studied. Microbubbles are gas-encapsulated lipid or polymer \\nshell coated micro-particles, widely used as ultrasound contrast agents (UCA). MBs oscillate \\nin response to the ultrasound and can interact with surrounding cells and tissues. This \\ninteraction can be enhanced by ligands, which have an affinity to biomarkers on the cell surface. \\nThese qualities of MBs make them very promising for molecular imaging of diseased tissues \\nby means of local and specific treatment of certain areas i.e. drug delivery.