Better Fat Bubbles Could Power a New Generation of mRNA Vaccines

May 12, 2022

(Science) – As any dietician will tell you, some fats are good—and that is surely true of the little fatty balls found in two of the world’s most widely used COVID-19 vaccines. Known as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), these tiny bubbles of fat encase messenger RNA (mRNA) that encodes a viral protein, helping ferry it into cells and shield it from destructive enzymes. The technology was key to the success of COVID-19 shots from Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech collaboration. But as beneficial as these fats are, there is plenty of room for improvement. (Read More)