(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers from Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of California, Davis, have created a technique that could lead to new, less-invasive treatments for blood disorders and genetic diseases. “This would be an alternative to invasive hematopoietic stem cell therapies – we could just give you an IV drip,” said James Dahlman, one of the researchers involved in this study. “It simplifies the process and reduces the risks to patients.” The procedure uses lipid nanoparticles that carry genetic instructions to hematopoietic stem cells, but unlike current therapies, in this procedure, the nanoparticles don’t have targeting ligands, and they can dodge the liver, which acts as the body’s primary blood filter.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have modified lipid nanoparticles to not only cross the blood-brain barrier but also to target specific types of cells, including neurons. The researchers showed how short strings of amino acids can serve as precise targeting molecules, enabling the lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA specifically to the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels of the brain, as well as neurons. This breakthrough marks a significant step toward potential next-generation treatments for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health)
Scientists from The Ohio State University have combined strategies to deliver energy-disrupting gene therapy against cancer by using nanoparticles. Experiments showed the targeted therapy is effective at shrinking glioblastoma brain tumors and aggressive breast cancer tumors in mice. The approach consists of breaking up structures inside these cellular energy centers, called mitochondria, with a technique that induces light-activated electrical currents inside the cells. “Previous attempts to use a pharmaceutical reagent against mitochondria targeted specific pathways of activity in cancer cells,” said Lufang Zhou, one of the scientists involved in this study. “Our approach targets mitochondria directly, using external genes to activate a process that kills cells.”

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health)
Proteins called photosystems are critical to photosynthesis – the process used by plants to convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy. Combining one kind of these proteins, called photosystem I, with platinum nanoparticles, creates a biohybrid catalyst. Now, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Yale University have determined the structure of the photosystem I biohybrid solar fuel catalyst. Building on more than 13 years of research pioneered at Argonne, the team reports the first high-resolution view of a biohybrid structure. This advancement opens the door for researchers to develop biohybrid solar fuel systems with improved performance, which would provide a sustainable alternative to traditional energy sources.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers from Caltech, the University of Southern California, Santa Clara University, and the National University of Singapore have developed microrobots that decreased the size of bladder tumors in mice by delivering therapeutic drugs directly to the bladders. The microrobots incorporated magnetic nanoparticles and the therapeutic drug within the outer structure of the spheres. The magnetic nanoparticles allowed the scientists to direct the robots to a desired location using an external magnetic field. When the microrobots reached their targets, they remained in that spot, and the drug passively diffused out.