A team of researchers led by Michael J Mitchell, associate professor of bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and David Issadore, professor of bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, invented a platform that has the potential to rapidly accelerate the development of mRNA-based lipid nanoparticle vaccines and therapeutics at both the small and large scale.
Their Silicon Scalable Lipid Nanoparticle Generation platform (SCALAR) is a reusable silicon- and glass-based platform designed to transform the production landscape of LNPs for RNA therapeutics and vaccines. It offers a scalable and efficient solution to the challenges exposed during the COVID-19 crisis.
“This technology has the potential to become a cornerstone in the field of nanomedicine, beyond RNA-based therapies,” Mitchell said in the Penn Today article. “The scalability and adaptability of the SCALAR chips could well make them the Swiss Army knife in the RNA lipid nanoparticle pharmaceutical manufacturing tool kit.”
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