# US 10,864,270 B2 · Nanostructured carriers for guided and targeted on-demand substance delivery > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,864,270 B2 - Document ID: US10864270B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/111,090 - Filed: 2018-08-23 - Published: 2019-05-09 - Granted: 2020-12-15 - Earliest claimed: 2014-06-13 - Assignees: The Regents of the University of California - Applicants: The Regents of the University of California - Inventors: Ratneshwar Lal; Preston B. Landon; Alexander Mo - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10864270B2 ## CPC - A61K 41/00: Medicinal preparations obtained by treating materials with wave energy or particle radiation {; Therapies using these preparations} - A61K 9/0009: {involving or responsive to electricity, magnetism or acoustic waves; Galenical aspects of sonophoresis, iontophoresis, electroporation or electroosmosis} - A61K 9/5115: {Inorganic compounds} - A61K 9/5138: {obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. polyvinyl pyrrolidone, poly(meth)acrylates} - A61K 9/5192: {Processes} - A61K 38/05: Dipeptides - A61K 41/0028: {Disruption, e.g. by heat or ultrasounds, sonophysical or sonochemical activation, e.g. thermosensitive or heat-sensitive liposomes, disruption of calculi with a medicinal preparation and ultrasounds} - A61K 47/6923: {the form being an inorganic particle, e.g. ceramic particles, silica particles, ferrite or synsorb} - A61K 47/6925: {the form being a microcapsule, nanocapsule, microbubble or nanobubble} - A61K 47/6941: {the form being a granulate or an agglomerate} - A61K: PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES (devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms A61J3/00; chemical aspects of, or use of materials for deodorisation of air, for disinfection or sterilisation, or for bandages, dressings, absorbent pads or surgical articles A61L; soap compositions C11D) ## Abstract Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for fabricating and implementing nanoscale and microscale structured carriers to provide guided, targeted, and on-demand delivery of molecules and biochemical substances for a variety of applications including diagnosis and/or treatment (theranostics) of diseases in humans and animals. In some aspects, a nanostructure carrier can be synthesized in the form of a nanobowl, which may include an actuatable capping particle that can be opened (and in some implementations, closed) on demand. In some aspects, a nanostructure carrier can be synthesized in the form of a hollow porous nanoparticle with a functionalized interior and/or exterior to attach payload substances and substances for magnetically guided delivery and controlled release of substance payloads. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method to fabricate a carrier structure, comprising: forming a template by attaching a plurality of mask particles on a core particle, the mask particles forming masked regions on the exterior surface of the core particle where they attach; attaching nanoparticles to unmasked surface of the template, wherein the mask particles prevent the nanoparticles to attach to the masked regions of the exterior surface; producing a shell structure over the unmasked surface of the template by forming a coating over the unmasked surface by material growth of the attached nanoparticles; prior to removing the masking particles from the template, forming an outer layer around the shell structure to produce a bi-layered shell structure; and producing a porous carrier structure by removing the mask particles from the template, wherein the removed mask particles form openings extending between an external surface of the bi-layered shell structure and the exterior surface of the core particle. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the mask particles attach to the core particle by electrostatic interaction. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the core particle includes cationic silica and the mask particles include polystyrene. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the core particle includes a size of 1 μm or less, and the mask particles include a size of 100 nm or less. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the mask particles include polystyrene particles with an outer functionalized coating having a carboxylated terminus. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the nanoparticles include gold nanoparticles. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the gold nanoparticles include a size of 5 nm or less. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the forming the coating includes immersing the template in a solution containing the material of the nanoparticles to cause nucleation and growth on the unmasked surface of the template. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the nanoparticles include gold nanoparticles and the solution includes gold hydroxide, the forming including producing gold seeds that nucleate into a gold shell structure. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carrier structure includes an outer gold porous shell formed over a silica core particle. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the removing the mask particles from the template includes dissolving the mask particles in an organic solvent. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: attaching magnetic nanoparticles to an outside surface of the porous carrier structure. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: loading the porous carrier structure with a molecular payload, wherein the loading includes functionalizing a surface of the bi-layered shell structure or the core particle exposed through the openings, or both, with attachment molecules capable of linking the molecular payload. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: removing at least a portion of the core particle from the template to produce a hollow, porous carrier structure. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising: attaching magnetic nanoparticles to a surface of the hollow porous carrier structure. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, further comprising: loading the hollow porous carrier structure with a molecular payload, wherein the loading includes functionalizing an interior surface or an outside surface of the hollow porous carrier structure with attachment molecules capable of linking the molecular payload. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the outer layer includes silica, and the shell structure includes gold. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the molecular payload is capable of being controllably released based on a stimulus including at least one of a chemical substance, an emission of light, a change in pH environment, or a change in temperature to cause detachment of the molecular payload from the carrier structure. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the molecular payload is capable of being controllably released based on a stimulus including at least one of a chemical substance, an emission of light, a change in pH environment, or a change in temperature to cause detachment of the molecular payload from the carrier structure.