{"id":202926,"date":"2025-01-01T12:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T18:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/modified-nanoparticles-cross-the-blood-brain-barrier-to-target-neurons"},"modified":"2025-01-01T12:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T18:45:09","slug":"modified-nanoparticles-cross-the-blood-brain-barrier-to-target-neurons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/modified-nanoparticles-cross-the-blood-brain-barrier-to-target-neurons","title":{"rendered":"Modified Nanoparticles Cross the Blood\u2013Brain Barrier To Target Neurons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/modified-nanoparticles-cross-the-blood-brain-barrier-to-target-neurons.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Penn Engineers have modified lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) \u2014 the revolutionary technology behind the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines \u2014 to not only cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) but also to target specific types of cells, including neurons. This breakthrough marks a significant step toward potential next-generation treatments for neurological diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1021\/acs.nanolett.4c05186\" target=\"_blank\">new paper in <i><i>Nano Lett<\/i>ers<\/i><\/a>, the researchers demonstrate how peptides \u2014 short strings of amino acids \u2014 can serve as precise targeting molecules, enabling LNPs to deliver mRNA specifically to the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels of the brain, as well as neurons.<\/p>\n<p>This represents an important advance in delivering mRNA to the cell types that would be key in treating neurodegenerative diseases; any such treatments will need to ensure that mRNA arrives at the correct location. <a href=\"https:\/\/penntoday.upenn.edu\/news\/bioengineers-brink-breaching-blood-brain-barrier\" target=\"_blank\">Previous work by the same<\/a> researchers proved that LNPs can cross the BBB and deliver mRNA to the brain, but did not attempt to control which cells the LNPs targeted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Penn Engineers have modified lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) \u2014 the revolutionary technology behind the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines \u2014 to not only cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) but also to target specific types of cells, including neurons. This breakthrough marks a significant step toward potential next-generation treatments for neurological diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s. In a new [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-nanotechnology","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}