A new study demonstrates ‘species agnostic’ screening of lipid nanoparticles, which could significantly accelerate the development of cutting edge mRNA targeted therapies.

Long before the Covid-19 pandemic put a global spotlight on mRNA-based vaccines, these two researchers in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University were combining their distinct skillsets to leverage the clinical potential of mRNA.

«Our work is very compatible,» said Dahlman, associate professor and McCamish Foundation Early Career Professor. «Phil’s lab designs and manufactures really high-quality mRNA, and my lab develops the lipid nanoparticles to deliver it.»

Therapeutics made from mRNA or DNA hold promise in addressing lots of diseases, explained Santangelo, a professor in Coulter BME, «but they’re not much good if they can’t get where they need to go. If you make cargo, which is essentially what we do in my lab, you need delivery, so James and I have a very natural collaboration.»

Their partnership, which began when Dahlman arrived at Georgia Tech in 2016, consistently yields results published in high-impact journals and garners generous research grants from federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

That includes a recent flood of cutting-edge papers: two in Nature Biomedical Engineering (from October 2021, and a forthcoming study) as well as their latest publication, released Feb. 7 in Nature Nanotechnology.

«We’re reporting an improved barcoding system that would make animal pre-clinical nanoparticle studies more predictive, speeding up the development of RNA therapies,» Dahlman said.

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Materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology. Original written by Jerry Grillo. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.