Delivering mRNA to the Bronchus

Delivering mRNA to the Bronchus

Piotr Kowalski

Koch Institute at MIT, MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Medical Engineering and Science

Harnessing the power of  nanotechnology to deliver messenger RNA to lung tissues. Images show polymeric nanocarriers that can carry messenger RNA to bronchial epithelium. Red cells received mRNA nanoparticles and transcribed the instructions encoded into mRNA to a protein. Green depict bronchial epithelial cells, cell nuclei are stained in blue. Yellow color indicates co-localization of green and red signals.  We generated this images using transgenic mice with a red fluorescent protein (TdTomato) preceded by a STOP signal inserted into their genomic DNA. TdTomato will be expressed only by the cells that received mRNA coding for Cre recombinase enzyme that removes the STOP signal. This technique allows us to visualize nanoparticle mediated mRNA delivery to various tissues with great sensitivity.

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