At the American Society for Microbiology's annual meeting this week, a team of researchers from the University of California, Davis, demonstrated a study showing that silicon nanoparticles they designed could penetrate the blood-brain barrier, with the potential down the road to deliver drugs to the brain to treat cancer and other diseases. After finding that the enzyme metalloprotease helps a fungal pathogen cross the barrier, the scientists isolated the enzyme and incorporated it into their nanoparticles. Read more from FierceBiotech Research