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Nanomedicine and Nanoscale Delivery (Focus Group – NND)

Engineering Lipid Nanoparticles for Cardiac-Specific Delivery of Self-Amplifying RNA and Messenger RNA

Costanza Emanueli, PhD – Chair in Cardiovascular Science, National Heart & Lung Institute - Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London; Robin Shattock, PhD – Chair in Mucosal Infection and Immunity, Department of Infectious Disease - Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London

    Poster Presenter(s)

  • Talia A. Shmool, PhD

    Imperial College Research Fellow
    Imperial College London
    London, England, United Kingdom

Introduction:

Ischaemic heart disease causes approximately 40% of heart failure cases worldwide, with high mortality.1,2 Therapeutics, including microRNAs offer novel treatment potential,3 yet, targeted cardiac delivery is a key challenge. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) enable intracellular RNA delivery,4 yet self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) which enhances expression compared to messenger RNA (mRNA), is underexplored. We develop and characterise LNPs for saRNA and mRNA delivery to the heart, aiming to compare carriers, optimise cardiac targeting in vivo and improve predictive in vitro models.

Learning Objectives:

  • describe the differences between diverse LNPs delivering self-amplifying RNA versus messenger RNA
  • describe the key LNP properties and characterisation methods required for optimised RNA-LNP cardiac delivery