Understanding the structure of novel RNA-Lipid nanoparticles using SANS

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has shown both the efficacy and need to develop effective vaccines and drug delivery. One technology which has been very effective at this uses lipid nanoparticles. These are small particles in which the lipid layer allows us to target the immune system. The nanoparticles are used to deliver a dose of mRNA. The exact dose held depends upon the encapsulation properties of the nanoparticle. We propose using SANS to look at the properties of a novel lipid nanoparticle system to determine how this system is able to encpsulate a high degree of mRNA and also remain very stable over a long period of time, contrary to other systems which require freezing.