27 Aug 2026
Professor Eleanor Stride Featured on BBC’s Best Medicine Podcast Series 3
BBC Best Medicine Series 3
Professor Eleanor Stride OBE FREng HonFIET PhD BEng, Statutory Professor of Biomaterials with a joint appointment at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences and fellow of St. Catherine’s College, was recently a guest on Series 3 BBC Radio 4’s “Best Medicine”. Prof Stride and her team’s work were also previously featured on the pilot episode of the show, which aired in 2023.
Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean, each episode brings together experts and a comedian to debate, which innovations truly deserve the title of "the best medicine." Their selections range from revolutionary medical advances to inspiring perspectives, cutting-edge futuristic cures, and improvements to more common treatments.
As expert panel member, Prof Stride highlighted her team’s work on improving the effectiveness of antimicrobial and cancer drug delivery. This involves ensuring that sufficient drug doses reach and penetrate the disease site, while trying to minimise toxic effects in rest of the body. To achieve this targeting, the drugs are encased inside microscopic bubbles that can be injected into the bloodstream. Focused ultrasound is then used to destroy the bubbles once they have reached the target site. This means, much lower overall doses of the drug need to be injected, and a much greater proportion ends up in the diseased tissue than with conventional drug delivery methods. The hope is that this can minimise the harmful side effects associated with powerful antibiotics and cancer chemotherapy drugs.
This medicine has the potential to transform both the way care is provided and the patient experience.
To find out if Prof Stride’s bubbles won the “Best Medicine” title, as well as why Prof Stride and Kiri Pritchard-McLean are holding underwear in the above photo, listen to the full podcast episode 5 on one of the following platforms:
