Project LIPICARE - Combining nanotechnology, gene editing and CAR-T to create a 'one-shot' cure for cancer

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LIPICARE is a bold and ambitious project conceived by a consortium of the UK's leading scientists in the field of gene and cancer therapy. We aim to combine advances in nanotechnology, cell therapy and gene editing to create a one-shot cure for cancer.Chimeric Antigen Receptor -- T cell (CAR-T) cancer immunotherapy involves genetically manipulating immune cells to attack cancers and represents a global market worth 20 billion dollars. Approved CAR-T products are all ex vivo therapies involving the complex and expensive process of manipulating cells in a lab and re-introducing them into a patient. One challenge, above all else, has prevented widespread adoption of this revolutionary technology, namely the inability to deliver therapeutic nucleic acids safely and effectively to the specific cells in the body.The COVID 19 pandemic has emphatically shown the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) mRNA delivery platforms are safe and effective in humans. Moreover, these LNP-mRNA vaccines can be manufactured for as little as £15 a dose. The next step is to guide these gene delivery technologies to specific cells in the body. This project will break down this current delivery barrier by creating T-cell specific LNP-nucleic acid delivery technologies to create CAR-T cells in vivo resulting in a cost-effective, accessible treatment for cancer -- Project LIPICARE.