66 Scientific Paper on the Topic Written by Kathryn Whitehead

This research paper looked at 1400 degradable lipidoids and evaluated the ability of the nanoparticle to insert RNA into the host cell and structure-function activity. Transfection ability is the ability of the nanoparticle to insert RNA into the host cell, and structure function activity is the relationship between the lipid structure and the biological interaction with the host cell. Whitehead was able to determine that lipoid nanoparticles in vitro with short interfering RNA (siRNA) were able to effectively silence gene expression. Whitehead was able to determine four key characteristics that are crucial to lipid nanoparticles working correctly: siRNA entrapment, diameter, zeta potential, and pKa. Specifically pKa and PEG percent composition of the LNP were very important. The pKa must be greater than 5.5, and the PEG molar % must be between 0.5-1.0%. There was also emphasis on tertiary amine, O₁₃ tail, and >2 tails for the structure of the lipoid to be the proper diameter. Her research is significant because she was able to create a library of LNP structures that could reliably predict in vivo siRNA delivery efficacy. This can reduce the need for animal testing because testing of the LNPs in the library suggested many of them were not toxic. Her findings allow for quicker development of LNP for RNA delivery by reducing time consuming testing. This is closely related to the TEDTalk as LNP structure is very important for mRNA delivery in vaccines. The more research that is done on LNP structure, the quicker the vaccines utilizing LNPs can be developed. Follow this link to read the full paper degradable lipid nanoparticles.