This past summer, I coop’ed through the University Hospital in the UC Ultrasound Lab. What we are trying to do is localize drug delivery. This is accomplished through encapsulating drugs with liposomes, which are microscopic lipid (fat-like) bubbles. Along with the drug, a small amount of air is also associated with the bubble, rendering it active in an acoustic (ultrasonic) field. We can measure this through echogenicity, the ability to generate an echo as air will do in an acoustic field. Therefore, these echogenic liposomes are called ‘ELIP’. When these ELIP are placed in an ultrasonic field, they have the ability to permeate and burst due to the air in them, hence releasing the drug inside of them. The kicker in our research is that we are using a clinical diagnostic ultrasound scanner, one that you would find in a hospital, which has never been done before. In the big picture, if the research I carried out this summer is successful, many different kinds of drugs will be able to be captured by ELIP and administered in the body. All drugs have side effects, some more serious than others, but being able to have the drugs isolated in these bubbles and releasing them as you please would greatly decrease the systemic reactions experienced by many. For example, cancer drugs work well, too well; they kill the cancer cells, along with many good cells. Theoretically, one could put these drugs in the bubbles, trace them until they reach the cancerous site, then release a higher dose of them locally without having any negative systemic side effects (losing hair, weight loss, anemia, etc…). Therefore, what I am doing this summer can potentially cure many diseases and save many lives, which is why I think I had a cool coop.