Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a membrane-penetrating nanoneedle using a boron-nitride nanotube for precisely controlled, targeted delivery of one or more molecules into the cytoplasm or the nucleus of living cells.

The ability to deliver a small number of molecules or nanoparticles into living cells with spatial and temporal precision may make feasible numerous new strategies for biological studies at the single-molecule level, which would otherwise be technically challenging or even impossible, the researchers report.