Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancing Antiviral Strategies Through Novel Immunocapture and Mass Spectrometry Techniques
Published on: January 12, 2024
Strategies for controlled assembly of rod-shaped viral particles
Mruthula Rammohan1, Kevin V Solomon1
1Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, 150 Academy St, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States.
None:
Nanoparticles are increasingly used in medical applications due to their precise control over size, shape, and surface properties, which enable safe, targeted delivery and controlled interactions with specific tissues and cell types, ultimately enhancing therapeutic outcomes. While synthetic nanoparticles have shown promise, they often face challenges related to toxicity, biocompatibility, and uniformity. In contrast, naturally derived particles offer inherent advantages, including biological compatibility and monodispersity, which help mitigate these issues. Rod-shaped viruses and virus-like particles (VLPs) are particularly attractive due to their directional assembly into hierarchical structures, uniform size, ease of surface functionalization, and tunable aspect ratio. These properties are useful to control biodistribution and cellular interactions for nanoparticle accumulation and targeted delivery in vivo. Ongoing efforts to harness rod-shaped virus-like particles for nanomedicine involve a variety of strategies to control assembly, such as genetic changes to coat proteins, RNA scaffold engineering, and physicochemical changes to the solution conditions. These strategies enable precise tuning of VLP shape, aspect ratio, and composition. This review summarizes available assembly strategies and highlights their impact on particle morphology. Limitations of current strategies and opportunities for implementing the currently known assembly techniques in nanomedicine are also discussed.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Viral Structure
Protein Complex Assembly
Many viruses self-assemble into a fully functional unit using the infected host cell to...
Precipitate Formation and Particle Size Control
The obtained precipitate should be either a pure substance of known composition or easily converted to one by a simple process, such as ignition or drying. In addition, the precipitate should be insoluble and easily filterable. In general, filterability...
The Nucleosome Core Particle
The paradox
Nucleosomes, paradoxically, perform two opposite functions simultaneously. On the one hand, their main responsibility is to protect the delicate DNA strands from physical damage and help achieve a higher compaction ratio. While on the other hand, they must allow polymerase enzymes to access DNA...
Viral Recombination
Molecular Shape and Polarity

