Scientists at Rutgers University–Newark have developed a first-of-its-kind RNA-based nanotechnology that assembles itself inside living human cells and can be programmed to stop propagation of harmful cells. The findings, recently accepted for publication in Nature Communications, represent a major breakthrough in biomedical research. The researchers are now in the midst of testing the technology on human cancer cells as a potential cure for the disease but have not yet finished the study or published results.
The nanostructure technology, which was tested in human cell cultures, can be used as a molecular tool for biomedical research and therapeutics. Because it can be customized, it has the versatility to target multiple detrimental genes and proteins simultaneously. The work was led by Professor Fei Zhang of the Rutgers-Newark Department of Chemistry and Professor Jean-Pierre Etchegaray of the Department of Biological Sciences, along with a team of interdisciplinary researchers. Etchegaray is also a member of Rutger’s Cancer Metabolism and Immunology program. Watch them explain their discovery in this video.
“We are providing the method, a new design strategy for artificial RNA structures with programmable functions,” said Zhang.
The technology works because every cell in the body runs on instructions stored in DNA. RNA– which scientists compare to software–acts as the messenger, carrying instructions that tell the cell what proteins to make. Instead of delivering pre-built molecules into a cell, the Rutgers–Newark team designed a way to give the cell a synthetic DNA template. What’s new is that this RNA is designed to fold and assemble itself into precise shapes and controllable localization inside the cell. The assembled RNA structures carry functional domains that can be reprogrammed for different biomedical applications. To read the full story.