Benchmarking of a novel multiparameter sensor for nanomedicines

Lipid nanoparticles and liposomes offer a revolutionary method of delivering previously infeasible therapeutics in a controlled manner for more effective treatment. These nanomaterials allow for increased penetration into target tissues, altered bioavailability, and have potential for improved targeting within the body. Exploiting these characteristics offers huge promise in terms of improved patient outcomes while minimising harsh side-effects.

Currently it is difficult to rapidly measure drug-load distribution and drug-release profiles of nanomedicines without using proxies and extrapolations. As a consequence, the nanomedicine field suffers from poor reproducibility and reliability at the drug-screening level. Understanding of these parameters is required by researchers, manufacturers and regulators to optimise the dosing and performance of these highly-targeted nanotherapeutics.

We have recently launched an instrument that can accurately measure real-time drug-load distribution and release profiles of drug-loaded nanoparticles, including liposomes and lipid-nanoparticles (LNPs). Our multiparameter sensors provide a novel and high-precision method for rapid characterisation of nanotherapeutics based on their unique optical signatures, measuring both size and refractive index simultaneously and independently on a particle-by-particle basis. Oxford HighQ's instrument is capable of measuring multiple critical attributes of nanoformulations, including:

* Drug mass per nanoparticle (as a function of size)
* Real-time drug-release profiles
* Shell/coating thickness and density
* Refractive index
* Size and polydispersity

This project will provide reference datasets for lipid-based nanoparticle formulations used in healthcare. The key objectives of this project are to provide orthogonal measurements of the physicochemical properties of therapeutic nanoparticles in order to demonstrate the performance parameters of Oxford HighQ's instruments, such as its resolution and limit of detection, and to provide a range of reference points for nanoparticle characterisation supporting the use of the instruments in the QA/QC testing of advanced therapies.