Nanoparticles for Drug & Gene Delivery

The greatest challenge to advances in targeted drug delivery and widespread clinical adoption of gene therapies is the development of nontoxic, nonimmunogenic, and efficacious delivery systems. Despite the tremendous efforts from both the academic and industrial research communities, there has been little to show by way of clinically translated nanoparticle (NP)-based gene therapies and drug delivery platforms. Nanoparticles are attractive drug delivery platforms as they enable sustained release, longer circulation times, spatiotemporal release, active targeting as well as tuning of its pharmacokinetic parameters.

However, despite decades of research efforts to leverage these favorable properties of nanoparticles, challenges still exist to realize the full potential of nanoparticles. In particular, while nanocarriers may decrease the toxicological profile of drugs as required for their acceptance as an FDA drug (i.e. Doxil and Abraxane), they do not exhibit significantly improved therapeutic efficacy.

In Lahann Lab, we work to address the current challenges in the applications of nanoparticles for drug & gene delivery by leveraging the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jetting. Through EHD jetting, we produce protein nanoparticles to leverage their favorable properties such biodegradability, nonantigenicity, metabolizability, favorable in vivo clearance profiles, and high degree of chemical modification capabilities for various therapeutic applications.

Current projects:

Protein-based nanoparticles for the treatment of brain cancer (Julio Zelaya)

Engineering protein nanoparticles for bioimaging and gene therapy (Fjorela Xhyliu)

Drug delivering muco-adhesive nanoparticles for oral squamous cell carcinoma (Albert Chang)

Intracellular trafficking and transfection of protein nanoparticles for efficient gene delivery (Yao Yao)

Nanoparticles are frequently pursued as drug delivery carriers due to their potential to alter the pharmacological profiles of drugs, but their broader utility in nanomedicine hinges upon exquisite control of critical nanoparticle properties, such as shape, size, or monodispersity. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jetting is a probate method to formulate synthetic protein nanoparticles (SPNPs), but a systematic understanding of the influence of crucial processing parameters, such as protein composition, on nanoparticle morphologies is still missing. In this paper, authors address this knowledge gap by evaluating formulation trends in SPNPs prepared by EHD jetting based on a series of carrier proteins and protein blends (hemoglobin, transferrin, mucin, or insulin).

(Habibi, Mauser et al., Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology 2022)