{"id":6591,"date":"2023-05-01T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T13:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/?p=6591"},"modified":"2025-11-24T11:44:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:44:36","slug":"rna-delivery-for-therapeutic-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/2023\/05\/01\/rna-delivery-for-therapeutic-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"RNA Delivery for Therapeutic Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Mentors<\/h3>\n<p><span>\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-5887 profile type-profile status-publish hentry departments-bme departments-chem departments-mse-dept departments-med affiliation-faculty program-year-yr-2023 program-year-186 profile-field-reu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/profile\/mark-grinstaff\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/09\/GRINSTAFF_HS-008-1200x1200-1-e1763996613675-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Mark Grinstaff<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor (BME, Chemistry, MSE, MED)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-6676 profile type-profile status-publish hentry departments-bme\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/profile\/jordan-smiley\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/04\/jordan_smiley-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Jordan Smiley<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">PhD Candidate<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-6678 profile type-profile status-publish hentry departments-bme affiliation-graduate-student program-year-yr-2023\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/profile\/wyatt-becicka\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/04\/Wyatt_Becicka_-copy-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Wyatt Becicka<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">PhD Candidate<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"margin-top: 0;\">Project Description<\/h3>\n<p><spanaptos narrow=\"\" arial=\"\" font-style:normal=\"\" data-sheets-root=\"1\">Therapeutic RNA delivery has applications in protein replacement, vaccine development, genetic engineering, and even the creation of fundamental research tools and cell lines. <\/spanaptos><\/p>\n<p><spanaptos narrow=\"\" arial=\"\" font-style:normal=\"\" data-sheets-root=\"1\">In this project, the student will start with a therapeutic target of interest encoded within a DNA plasmid and perform all steps necessary to successfully create RNA, transfect the developed product into a cell line, and finally analyze both the transfection efficiency and resulting protein expression. By moving a RNA design from concept to reality, the student will create a foundation for future experiments that analyze the translational capabilities of the delivered therapeutic.<\/spanaptos><\/p>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Research Goals<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Create RNA from a DNA template using in-vitro transcription (IVT).<\/li>\n<li>Transfect the RNA into cells and confirm successful transfection.<\/li>\n<li>Analyze the resulting level of protein expression.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Learning Goals<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Gain experience reading and interpreting scientific literature.<\/li>\n<li>Learn cell culture.<\/li>\n<li>Learn how to design a plasmid (DNA) with all necessary components to encode a sequence for a desired RNA output.<\/li>\n<li>Learn in-vitro transcription (IVT).<\/li>\n<li>Learn lipid nanoparticle (LNP) synthesis.<\/li>\n<li>Learn how to transfect RNA into cells and determine successful transfection\/protein expression.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Timeline<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Weeks 1-3:<\/strong><\/span> Literature\/general concepts review, learn cell culture.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Weeks 4-6:<\/strong><\/span> Learn IVT, LNP synthesis.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Weeks 7-9:<\/strong><\/span> Transfection, confirm successful protein production\/expression.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 10:<\/strong><\/span> Poster preparation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mentors Project Description Therapeutic RNA delivery has applications in protein replacement, vaccine development, genetic engineering, and even the creation of fundamental research tools and cell lines. In this project, the student will start with a therapeutic target of interest encoded within a DNA plasmid and perform all steps necessary to successfully create RNA, transfect the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22960,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[136,137,67],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6591"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9473,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6591\/revisions\/9473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}