Affibody labelled lipid nanoparticles for cancer therapeutics

Heralded by their unprecedented success in the Covid-19 vaccines, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are revolutionizing RNA medicine. To apply LNP technology to other crucial healthcare questions, e.g. cancer immunotherapy, new LNP formulations are required which can selectively target certain cells in the body. We are addressing this by specifically labelling LNP surfaces with affibodies to target specific cell surface receptors. Affibodies are engineered, robust affinity proteins, which are much smaller than traditionally-used antibodies, and can afford significant surface functionalization without extensively changing the LNP surface. Having already demonstrated targeted uptake of these affibody-LNPs in cells, in this proposal we will quantify the impact of labelling on LNP structure to enable us to understand the relationship between LNP labelling, structure, uptake and function.