Ohio State researchers develop gene therapy nanocarriers from expired blood

Researchers at The Ohio State University have developed a sustainable nanocarrier system for medical treatments using lipids derived from expired human red blood cells. By utilizing microfluidics to assemble these vesicles, the team created a highly controllable manufacturing platform that overcomes previous limitations in scaling production and cargo-loading flexibility.

The engineered extracellular vesicles are designed to be highly biocompatible, allowing them to evade immune clearance while effectively delivering therapeutic payloads such as genetic material, proteins, and viral vectors. In laboratory tests involving mice, the vesicles remained in circulation and successfully targeted cancer cells and multiple organs, showing distribution patterns similar to naturally occurring vesicles.

The project utilizes medical waste streams by repurposing red blood cells that can no longer be used for transfusions. This approach provides a sustainable source of lipids for advanced nanomedicine applications, including gene therapy and tumor targeting.