The overarching goal of this feature article is to review the recent developments in the field of drug delivery specifically involving colloidal lyotropic liquid crystalline dispersions. The development of advanced particles for drug delivery applications is regarded as the next necessary step in the advancement of nanomedicine. An outline of the state of the art in preparation and application of self-assembled nanoparticles to drug delivery and medical imaging is presented. The basic concepts for controlling the nature of the internal structure of particles by tuning the self-assembly properties of small molecule amphiphiles is covered. Theranostics is an exciting emerging area for this colloidal material class, and the types of therapeutic compounds and medical imaging agents that can be incorporated as well as their methods of preparation are described. The stabilisation and biocompatibility of the colloidal dispersions are also discussed. Finally an overview of lesion-specific active and passive targeting is presented. Exploiting such a multi-functional drug delivery platform is essential to not only the next generation delivery of bioactive molecules but also in the creation of new diagnostic tools. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.