Understanding the inner architecture of a nanomedicine

29 April 2019

The use of oligonucleotides as therapeutics requires the packaging into nanoparticles. Positively charged peptides are one type of molecules to generate such nano-formulations. To this point, the inner architecture of these nanoparticles and how it depends on the relative amounts of oligonucleotide and peptide could not be resolved.

In a collaborative effort that has just been published in Nano Letters, the group of Lorenzo Albertazzi, TU Eindhoven, together with the group of Roland Brock, theme Nanomedicie, used superresolution microscopy to quantitatively image the structure and composition of peptide – messenger RNA nanoparticles and related this to biological activity. Such insights will be crucial for the development of highly effective nanomedicine.