A new era in brain drug delivery: integrating multivalency and computational optimisation for blood–brain barrier permeation

In short

My first review as joint first author, written with Giulia Porro. It looks at what actually stands between a drug and the brain, and at the strategies now being used to get past it.

We cover four things: the structural and molecular features that give the barrier its selectivity; therapeutic approaches built on receptor-mediated transcytosis; how multivalency sharpens both the specificity and the transport of nanoparticles; and where computational models, paired with experimental validation, can shorten the design cycle.

With thanks to Cátia Lopes and Giuseppe Battaglia for their guidance throughout.

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© The authors, 2025. Open access under CC BY 4.0; shared here unchanged.