A VERSATILE machine invented at Flinders University has been used to make a common anti-cancer drug four times more effective.

Clean technology Professor Colin Raston said the machine, which can also unboil an egg, packed more of the drug carboplatin into tiny delivery vehicles for transport within the body.

“We’re going for targeted drug delivery, that’s the key,” he said.

“So if you can have a vehicle that can deliver the drug to the tumour, then you shut down side effects. And you minimise the amount of drug you use, because most drugs end up in sewage.”

Prof Raston said his machine increased loading of the drug “from 17 ... to 75 per cent”.

The drug is often used to treat ovarian and lung cancers.

The device consists of a rapidly rotating tube that can be titled at different angles, and the speed of rotation varied.

Inside the tube, liquids containing substances such as proteins are subjected to extreme forces that facilitate chemical changes.

“The machine delivers these forces in the liquid that helps to manipulate proteins,” Prof Raston said.

“It helps to manipulate the vehicle to take up more of the cancer drug. It’s the mechanical forces in the liquid, in this very thin film of liquid.

“The tube in the device is spun at ridiculously high speeds, normally greater than 5000rpm.”

The research is published today in the journal Scientific Reports.

Prof Raston said his team was working on secret applications for the vortex fluidic device, but he needed to patent and publish each discovery before he could tell the world.

In January the global scientific community celebrated news Prof Raston’s team — with colleagues at the University of California-Irvine — had untangled the proteins in the white of a hard-boiled egg to make them clear again.

The device is being manufactured at Flinders University and will soon be sold to research organisations everywhere.

“I’m not in it for the money,” Prof Raston said.

“I’m in it for the science and hopefully making a contribution to the planet.

“It’s about developing cleaner technology.”

The hi-tech, yet simple device enables researchers to produce more of the proteins they want, faster, with less waste, Prof Raston said.

“The protein folding process ... reduces the waste stream from the processing ... by a factor of 10,” he said.

“So you’re really dealing with pollution issues upfront, you’re reducing processing time from days down to minutes and using far less energy.”