Engineers Create Nanoparticles that Deliver Gene-Editing Tools to Specific Tissues and Organs
Phoenix666 writes:
Engineers create nanoparticles that deliver gene-editing tools to specific tissues and organs:
A team of Tufts biomedical engineers, led by associate professor Qiaobing Xu, sought to find a way to package the gene editing "kit" so it could be injected to do its work inside the body on targeted cells, rather than in a lab.
They used lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)-tiny "bubbles" of lipid molecules that can envelop the editing enzymes and carry them to specific cells, tissues, or organs. Lipids are molecules that include a long carbon tail, which helps give them an "oily" consistency, and a hydrophilic head, which is attracted to a watery environment.
There is also typically a nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen-based link between the head and tail. The lipids arrange themselves around the bubble nanoparticles with the heads facing outside and the tails facing inward toward the center.
Xu's team was able to modify the surface of these LNPs so they can eventually "stick" to certain cell types, fuse with their membranes, and release the gene-editing enzymes into the cells to do their work.
The lipid nanoparticles are encoded to target certain tissues within the body to deliver new genes.
Journal Reference:
Yamin Li, Alice Chukun Li, Qiaobing Xu. Intracellular Delivery of HisTagged GenomeEditing Proteins Enabled by Nitrilotriacetic Acid-Containing Lipidoid Nanoparticles, Advanced Healthcare Materials (DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201800996)
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