RNA vaccines and other nucleic acid therapeutics are typically packaged within fatty molecules known as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). MIT researchers have now come up with a way to produce these particles much more quickly, and with more precise control over their size and shape. 'This method can help you determine what are the parameters that will generate specific size and shape attributes, before you take those particles and see which one will perform best,' says Cedric Devos, an MIT postdoc and one of the lead authors of the study. 'It could be a quite powerful development tool.' Current methods for designing new lipid nanoparticles often require time-consuming trial-and-error experiments, with limited investigation of desired particle size and shape. Tuning the size and shape of LNPs can open the possibility of targeting different organs and tissues. 'The size and shape of LNPs could not be reliably controlled by any previous production method. The problem may appear simple at...
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