Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Ocular Therapeutic Delivery and Advanced Tissue Retrieval in Adult Rats
Published on: May 23, 2025
Delivering the Messenger: Advances in Technologies for Therapeutic mRNA Delivery
Piotr S Kowalski1, Arnab Rudra2, Lei Miao1
1David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Abstract:
mRNA has broad potential as a therapeutic. Current clinical efforts are focused on vaccination, protein replacement therapies, and treatment of genetic diseases. The clinical translation of mRNA therapeutics has been made possible through advances in the design of mRNA manufacturing and intracellular delivery methods. However, broad application of mRNA is still limited by the need for improved delivery systems. In this review, we discuss the challenges for clinical translation of mRNA-based therapeutics, with an emphasis on recent advances in biomaterials and delivery strategies, and we present an overview of the applications of mRNA-based delivery for protein therapy, gene editing, and vaccination.
Related Concept Videos
What are Second Messengers?
Amplifying Signals via Second Messengers
Regulated mRNA Transport
Nuclear Export of mRNA
pre-mRNA Processing
Once about 20-40 ribonucleotides have been joined together by RNA polymerase, a group of enzymes adds a “cap” to the 5’ end of the growing transcript. In this process, a 5’ phosphate is replaced by modified guanosine that has a methyl group attached to it (7-Methyl...
mRNA Stability and Gene Expression
Cis-acting Elements involved in mRNA stability

