Vaccines

Mason researchers use DNA 'origami' to design novel vaccine platform

Nathan Kahl — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:11:01 +0000

Mason researchers use DNA 'origami' to design novel vaccine platform Nathan Kahl Thu, 03/30/2023 - 13:11

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Four George Mason University researchers are part of a team developing a novel method to develop vaccines rapidly. Their new process takes advantage of DNA molecules’ self-assembly properties by folding them onto nanoparticles that mimic viruses, eliciting a robust protective immunity to COVID in mice. The journal Communications Biology published the findings in March.

Mason PhD student Esra Oktay and researcher Remi Veneziano working in the lab. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Remi Veneziano, an assistant professor, and Esra Oktay, a PhD student, both in the Mason College of Engineering and Computing’s Department of Bioengineering, published the paper along with Farhang Alem and Aarthi Narayanan in the Mason College of Science, collaborators from the U.S Naval Research Lab, and Case Western Reserve University.

“The beauty of this technique is that the design flexibility and the ease of assembly allow users to create nanoparticles with prescribed geometry and size," Veneziano explains. "They are assembled by mixing multiple DNA strands in a tube and by slowly [heating and cooling] them.”

The team took advantage of having a DNA "barcode" of sorts on the surface of the particles to attach antigens precisely at prescribed locations. “All the positions in the structure have a different sequence. Here at position A, you have sequence ‘ATCG,’ for example,” he says, referencing DNA base-letter abbreviations. “At position B you might have ‘CGAT,’ which allows you to modify only specific regions of the nanostructure.”

Having control and predictability of the DNA structure, the team organized multiple antigens—small viral proteins that trigger an immune response—to be a virus copycat with specific application onto the DNA strand. This allowed for an efficient triggering of the immune system, compared to results seen when randomly organizing an antigen. Their results suggest that “we don’t need to pack a lot of antigen on the surface of a particle,” Veneziano says. “We just need to organize the antigen in a specific pattern so that it’s recognized more efficiently by the immune cell.”

Their approach was successfully tested in a mouse model at the Mason Regional Biocontainment Lab within the university’s Biomedical Research Laboratory, one of 12 regional biocontainment facilities funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Narayanan says, “The platform is extremely versatile and adaptable in the antigenic possibilities it can present. With the appetite to develop broadly effective vaccines against multiple viruses with pandemic potential, this approach holds major promise.”

Oktay, who is working on a doctoral degree in bioengineering, notes, “During the pandemic we wanted to establish a strategy against COVID-19. We created an innovative and controllable platform using a tour de force of DNA origami technology, which has achieved a significant outcome in the way of protection against viruses.” She says the future goal is “to adapt this platform for other types of viruses for which currently there is no vaccine, and to create a protective system.”

Veneziano indicates the ability to stave off future pandemics is encouraging. “This novel technology has the potential to change the way we currently design vaccine particles by making vaccine development faster, safer, and cheaper.”

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Mason’s Michael Buschmann and team at start-up AexeRNA Therapeutics Inc. pursue patents for improved COVID-19 vaccines

John Hollis — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 19:18:20 +0000

Mason’s Michael Buschmann and team at start-up AexeRNA Therapeutics Inc. pursue patents for improved COVID-19 vaccines John Hollis Wed, 07/28/2021 - 15:18

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Caroline Hoemann

Michael Buschmann (seated) and his team that includes (l to r) Aarthi Narayanan, Mikell Paige and Caroline Hoemann have developed improved technology that could help make COVID-19 vaccines better and more readily available. Not pictured: Pat Gillevet. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

George Mason University bioengineering professor Michael Buschmann and a team of scientific collaborators have devised improved lipid nanoparticle technologies to deliver mRNA that could make mRNA vaccines such as the COVID-19 vaccines less costly, with fewer side-effects and more available worldwide.

Vaccines with mRNA use lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to protect the mRNA and facilitate the immune system’s response to protect people against infection by viruses. This technology has flattened the COVID-19 curve in Western industrialized nations, but the vaccine will need to evolve to reduce side effects and permit worldwide vaccination to eradicate the disease.

Working with George Mason University’s Office of Tech Transfer (OTT) to form the start-up AexeRNA Therapeutics Inc., Buschmann and his team have licensed the commercial rights of four patent applications to the company. The patents address two major LNP technology issues related to novel lipid molecules and novel methods of LNP manufacturing.

“Our solutions seek to make the vaccine more efficient, less costly, and decrease its adverse effects,” said Buschmann, the chair of the Bioengineering Department within Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing.

By modifying the structure and composition of the LNPs, the researchers were able to make the vaccine more efficient, less toxic and easier to make, handle and distribute.

They look forward to now sharing their discovery and helping in the fight against a global pandemic that has killed more than four million people around the world, including more than 600,000 Americans. The current success of mRNA vaccines also paves the way for their use in many other infectious diseases.

“OTT ensures the protection of the intellectual property and works with start-ups like AexeRNA to bring the scientific discoveries to the marketplace,” said Hina Mehta, director of the Office of Technology Transfer.

Buschmann and his partners see tremendous potential for mRNA and vaccines as they may hold the keys to unlocking the technology to fight variants of COVID, influenza, HIV and many other viral pathogens.

Buschmann, Mikell Page from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry within Mason’s College of Science and Drew Weissman, Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are the scientific founders of the Mason/University of Pennsylvania spin-off. The group also includes Mason postdoctoral research associate Suman Alishetty and PhD student Manuel Carrasco, University of Pennsylvania postdoctoral research associate Mohamad Alameh and venture capitalist and intellectual property lawyer Thomas Axel Haag.

“We’re excited to move this technology into further preclinical development and scale-up so that mRNA vaccines can be more widely and effectively used in pandemic and non-pandemic settings,” Buschmann said.

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Mason scientists’ DNA nanotech research could target illnesses such as the coronavirus

284b32ef-f5e4-49b3-b958-e02a665d1125 (Nanci Hellmich) — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 21:45:18 +0000

Mason scientists’ DNA nanotech research could target illnesses such as the coronavirus 284b32ef-f5e4-… Tue, 03/10/2020 - 17:45

Vaccines

Mason researchers use DNA 'origami' to design novel vaccine platform

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Mason’s Michael Buschmann and team at start-up AexeRNA Therapeutics Inc. pursue patents for improved COVID-19 vaccines

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Mason scientists’ DNA nanotech research could target illnesses such as the coronavirus

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