Engineering lipid nanoparticles for lung cancer imaging

Live30 webinars are thirty-minute presentations designed to update you on the latest innovations, applications, and data in a fast yet interactive format.

Early detection of lung cancer significantly improves survival rates. Yet only 27% of all lung cancers are diagnosed at Stages 1-2. This is partly due to the lack of highly accurate, non-invasive diagnostic imaging methods that can differentiate malignant cancers from benign lesions.

In this upcoming webinar, Earli’s experts will introduce the workflow that they use to engineer LNPs to deliver cancer-activated DNA vectors that produce synthetic biomarkers for cancer imaging. Unlike most gene therapy applications, transfection of a tiny fraction of tumor cells can often produce sufficient biomarker expression for diagnostic imaging, provided there is minimal expression in normal cells. This necessitates the development of nanoparticles that can deliver DNA to lung tumors.

Insights into the key challenge of preventing rapid clearance of LNPs by the liver and spleen to reach the tumor, and the delivery of DNA to the nucleus of the cell, will be outlined. Earli’s team will also share how the Sunscreen & Sunshine systems are utilized as part of their screening and development workflow to determine which LNPs should be moved forward for testing in animal models to solve these challenges.

Join this webinar for insights into:

• Strategies for creating nanoparticles that deliver DNA to lung tumors and avoid rapid clearance by the liver and spleen
• The benefits of being able to formulate using small genetic payloads and rapidly screen non-standard LNP compositions
• How unified fluidic systems allow seamless scaling from screening to medium and large-scale formulations for in vivo studies, ensuring formulation comparability across scales

Ben Knappett

Market Manager, LNPs at Unchained Labs

Ben Knappett received his MChem degree from Durham University, and completed a PhD in nanoparticle synthesis and characterization at the University of Cambridge. Ben started working for Particle Works in 2016, developing nanoparticle and microparticle products using microfluidics technology, which covered a wide range of material types. Ben moved to the position as the Head of Science and Applications when the Particle Works brand relaunched in 2021 as a provider of automated nanoparticle synthesis platforms. Following the acquisition of Particle Works to Unchained Labs, Ben undertakes the role of Product Manager – LNP Solutions, focusing on delivery automated, high-throughput solutions for LNP encapsulation in drug delivery, vaccines, gene therapy. 

Blaine McCarthy

Team Lead, Delivery at Earli

Blaine leads the delivery team at Earli which is focused on pioneering innovative lipid nanoparticle formulations to transport DNA to tumors for early cancer detection. After completing a Ph.D. in synthetic polymer chemistry, Blaine developed a keen interest in the capability of polymers to deliver genes. She followed this interest to become a Cancer Translational Nanotechnology postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University where she investigated degradable polymers for mRNA delivery. Building on this expertise, Blaine joined Earli to advance the company's early cancer detection platform through polymer and lipid nanoparticle research and development.