Leveraging Engineered Bioparticles for Protein and RNA Delivery
Event details
| Date | 16.12.2025 |
| Hour | 10:00 › 11:00 |
| Speaker | Aditya Raguram, Ph.D., Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA (USA) |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
3-DAY BIOE MINI-SYMPOSIUM on Life Science Engineering
(DAY THREE: talk six / previous talk / next talk)
Abstract:
The ability to deliver macromolecules into cells within the body is required for many emerging therapeutic strategies, including gene editing therapies, but efficient intracellular macromolecular delivery remains challenging. To address this challenge, I developed engineered virus-like particles (eVLPs), a new protein delivery method in which retroviral scaffold proteins are used to package and deliver cargo proteins instead of viral genomes. eVLPs combine key advantages of traditional viral and non-viral delivery approaches and can mediate therapeutic base editing treatments for several genetic disorders in mice, including hypercholesterolemia and genetic blindness. To further increase the delivery potency of eVLPs, I applied a directed evolution approach and discovered eVLP capsid mutants that support improved cargo packaging and delivery efficiencies. Most recently, I developed a genome-wide screening approach to systematically investigate how genetic perturbations in producer cells influence eVLP production, and I applied this approach to engineer producer cells that support improved bioparticle production for various gene editing applications. Overall, my work establishes eVLPs as promising vehicles for macromolecular delivery and lays a foundation for my future research program to develop engineered bioparticle-based technologies for synthetic biology and therapeutics.
Bio:
Aditya Raguram is a Whitehead Fellow and Principal Investigator at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT. He earned an A.B. in Chemistry & Physics and Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Harvard University. As a Ph.D. student under the guidance of Prof. David R. Liu at the Broad Institute, he developed new technologies for precision genome editing and protein delivery. Currently, as a Whitehead Fellow, his research focuses on the study and manipulation of cell-derived bioparticles to enable next-generation macromolecular delivery modalities.
Zoom link for attending remotely, if needed: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/69216732793
(DAY THREE: talk six / previous talk / next talk)
Abstract:
The ability to deliver macromolecules into cells within the body is required for many emerging therapeutic strategies, including gene editing therapies, but efficient intracellular macromolecular delivery remains challenging. To address this challenge, I developed engineered virus-like particles (eVLPs), a new protein delivery method in which retroviral scaffold proteins are used to package and deliver cargo proteins instead of viral genomes. eVLPs combine key advantages of traditional viral and non-viral delivery approaches and can mediate therapeutic base editing treatments for several genetic disorders in mice, including hypercholesterolemia and genetic blindness. To further increase the delivery potency of eVLPs, I applied a directed evolution approach and discovered eVLP capsid mutants that support improved cargo packaging and delivery efficiencies. Most recently, I developed a genome-wide screening approach to systematically investigate how genetic perturbations in producer cells influence eVLP production, and I applied this approach to engineer producer cells that support improved bioparticle production for various gene editing applications. Overall, my work establishes eVLPs as promising vehicles for macromolecular delivery and lays a foundation for my future research program to develop engineered bioparticle-based technologies for synthetic biology and therapeutics.
Bio:
Aditya Raguram is a Whitehead Fellow and Principal Investigator at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT. He earned an A.B. in Chemistry & Physics and Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from Harvard University. As a Ph.D. student under the guidance of Prof. David R. Liu at the Broad Institute, he developed new technologies for precision genome editing and protein delivery. Currently, as a Whitehead Fellow, his research focuses on the study and manipulation of cell-derived bioparticles to enable next-generation macromolecular delivery modalities.
Zoom link for attending remotely, if needed: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/69216732793
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Matteo Dal Peraro, Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, EPFL
Contact
- Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), Dietrich REINHARD