The result is a ball many times smaller than a living cell that literally bristles with the popular drug -- sold under the brand name Taxol -- that prevents cancer cells from dividing by jamming their inner works.

"Paclitaxel is one of the most effective anticancer drugs and many researchers are exploring how to deliver much more of the drug directly to cancer cells," said Rice University Assistant Professor Eugene Zubarev, lead investigator in the study. "We looked for an approach that would clear the major hurdles people have encountered -- solubility, drug efficacy, bioavailability and uniform dispersion -- and our initial results look very promising."

The study by Zubarev and graduate students Jacob Gibson and Bishnu Khanal is available online and is to appear in the Sept. 19 print issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.