Virus-inspired delivery system transfers microscopic cargo between human cells

Scientists from the University of Utah and University of Washington have developed blueprints that instruct human cells to assemble a virus-like delivery system that can transport custom cargo from one cell to another. As reported online in Nature on Nov. 30, the research is a step toward a nature-inspired means for delivering therapeutics directly to specific cell types within the body. “We’re shifting our perception from viruses as pathogens, to viruses as inspiration for new tools,” says Wesley Sundquist, Ph.D., co-chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is also co-senior author on the study with Neil King, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington. The carefully designed instructions set forth a series of self-propelled events that mimic how some viruses transfer their infectious contents from one cell to the next. From the blueprints tumbled out self-assembling, soccer...