News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:What mRNA is good for, and what it maybe isn’t by espenwa on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @06:57PM (#27682849)
When it comes to the problem of targeting, one interesting and promising tech is photochemical internalisation [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photochemical_internalizatio...], where you put the mRNA inside photosensitive molecules (and not lipids) and then shine some light on the tissue/organ where you want the mRNA delivered. Where activated by the light, the molecules then enter the cells, dissolves and deliver the mRNA. The Norwegian company PCI Biotech has a tech they call fimaNAc for doing this with naked mRNA.

https://www.pcibiotech.no/nucleicacids

This presentation has a lot of illustrations and explanations:

https://www.pcibiotech.no/s/PCI-Biotech-SMi-RNA-Therapeutics...

Re:What mRNA is good for, and what it maybe isn’t by monocasa on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @07:16PM (#27682999)
What happens to the unactivated mRNA in that case? I was under the impression that it was typically the actual use of the mRNA by the ribosomes that broke them down generally, but I could be off base there.
Re:What mRNA is good for, and what it maybe isn’t by gus_massa on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @07:25PM (#27683062)
The same mRNA can be used by multiple ribosomes. More info and "photos": https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/54752/can-mrna-b...
Re:What mRNA is good for, and what it maybe isn’t by monocasa on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @08:47PM (#27683660)
Sure, it isn't destroyed immediately and the mRNA is used multiple time, but that's still ultimately the ribosomes damaging the mRNA from use. My question is around how they break down if there aren't ribosomes involved (ie. if the capsules above aren't opened because they weren't exposed to the light trigger).
Re:What mRNA is good for, and what it maybe isn’t by sudosysgen on Tuesday June 29, 2021 @10:13PM (#27684157)
Eventually the capsule will break down, be filtered out or be destroyed by the immune system and any RNA left will be broken down by RNAse.
Re:What mRNA is good for, and what it maybe isn’t by gus_massa on Wednesday June 30, 2021 @08:36AM (#27687694)
More info about RNA destruction and RNAse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribonuclease
Re:What mRNA is good for, and what it maybe isn’t by kmarc on Wednesday June 30, 2021 @07:51AM (#27687383)
This is one of the most amazing things I've read lately (apart from mRNA based vaccination itself). Thanks for sharing.