Confinement of Acoustic Cavitation for the Synthesis of Protein-Shelled Nanobubbles for Diagnostics and Nucleic Acid Delivery

We report a novel flow-through sonication technique for synthesizing stable and monodispersed nano- and micrometer-sized bubbles that have potential applications in diagnostics and gene therapy. The size and size distribution of the bubbles are controlled by the active cavitation zone generated by ultrasound. These bubbles are shown to possess echogenic properties and can be used for loading oligonucleotides.