Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based therapeutics and the potential of mRNA as a treatment for various conditions has been researched for decades. A key challenge remains finding a delivery system that enables enough of the mRNA to reach target tissues safely without causing adverse effects. Lipid nanoparticles have been studied since the 1960s, but widespread use and optimization of delivery for mRNA therapeutics, including vaccines, really came to the forefront during COVID-19.
While these vaccines saved countless lives, current lipid nanoparticle-mRNA delivery systems still face limitations that researchers are working to improve for broader therapeutic use. Scientists with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) and The University of California at Berkeley have worked together since 2016 to craft more advanced delivery methods for gene-editing tools. A portion of this work is developing lipid nanoparticle-mRNA complexes that are more effective and safer than ever before, even in difficult-to-treat regions like the brain.
"We [UT Health San Antonio researchers] are the brain scientists, and they [UC Berkeley researchers] are the bioengineering group. We made a perfect team to pursue our goal to deliver therapeutics to the brain safely and efficiently," said one of the UT Health San Antonio members of this collaboration, Hye Young Lee, Ph.D.
, associate professor in the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, Joe R. .
