Inhalable nanoparticles for lung mRNA delivery and gene editing; nanobody secretion by E. coli in the gut and more

Researchers including Orna Therapeutics Inc. co-founder Daniel Anderson presented in Nature Biotechnology a set of inhalable nanoparticles, built using biodegradable ionizable lipids, that are capable of delivering messenger RNA and CRISPR–Cas9 gene editors to lung tissues.

The team identified candidate nanoparticles via high-throughput combinatorial synthesis and screening of a library of 720 novel lipids.  Each lipid in the library contained a nitro ricinoleic acrylate linker coupled to one of 10 lipid tails with varying lengths, saturation and location of unsaturated bonds; and also contained one of 72 head groups that varied in their cyclic structure, aromaticity and functional groups. ...