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Thursday 19 April 2012

Nanoparticles Offer ‘Open Sesame’ Keys to New Drugs and Vaccines

Drugs that rely on tiny strands of RNA to shut down the production of problem proteins have generated intense research interest in recent years. But they have to overcome a common difficulty: It's hard to get the RNA into target cells. Research presented at the meeting suggests there may be a straightforward solution: Pack the strands together to form nano-sized particles. And a second study indicated that a different kind of nanoparticle may lead to novel kinds of vaccines. Nanomedicine may be about to get a big boost.