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How can we effectively communicate science to the public?

July 26, 2021Newslettersatascientific

Has the scientific community dropped the ball on translating the message?

Vaccine expert, Dr Anna Blakney¹ recently mentioned that “the pace of science is not matched by the pace of public communication”. This seems to be at play currently, with growing concern about the vaccine rollout, apparent bungles, finger pointing and what can only be baseless claims that the messaging is mixed and somehow, it is the government’s fault. Sensationalist journalism yearning for an explosive story appears to run with what will sell rather than report the facts. This is also a failing of the scientific community to adequately communicate to those without science knowledge.

Scientists are always passionate about their research and keen to discuss their findings but often fail to remember that not everyone will have the same level of understanding. Topics that require years of study can be so complex that a simple explanation barely seems to scratch the surface of what is really going on. Conversely, when research is shared in all its complexity, it can be misinterpreted, appear sinister and spread fear. The development of mRNA vaccines in response to COVID is a prime example of this.

Some believe that simply educating the populous with more information will lead to rational decision making. A recent study has shown this assumption to be false² – not because people are irrational, but because we make decisions based on our own experiences and biases and ones that confirm our current worldview. The spread of misinformation and alternative facts have been linked to the constant change in messaging coming from our leaders and the rapidly moving vaccination program. Rapid changes like these can be difficult for some to accept given human nature’s desire for rules which provide us with clarity and stability within a society. The cool thing about science is it is autocorrecting – what was the best estimate of a reasoning in the past may well have been debunked considering new data, new technological advances, or perhaps better analytical measurements. To a scientist this is normal; to the uninitiated it may be confusing.

How do we develop a stronger foundation for effective communication

1. Tailor memorable and meaningful messages to the audience

Science can be complicated as many studies have a terrifically long back story to consume to bring you up to speed. At times it may feel scientists are talking in a foreign tongue – maybe we should employ a similar principle utilised in cryptic crosswords by providing questions and answers that you don’t require a PhD to understand. A scientific treatise has its place, however, communicating to those not in the club is equally essential, particularly in the public domain.

2. Relate science in the news messages to core values

We are fortunate in Australia; we have mainstream media with integrity. Our trusted national broadcaster, the ABC, has brilliant science communication, with rockstars like Dr Karl, Dr Norman Swan, Robyn Williams, and Natasha Mitchell all stepping up during this crisis. Easy to access information and free from cost and free from politicking.

Topical and accurate science communication relies on researchers giving their time to work with journalists. Dr Anna Blakney was recently featured by the CRS YSC (Controlled Release Society Young Scientist Committee) in their Back-to-Basics Workshop: Science Communication in the Wild World of TikTok. The workshop covered the progression from outreach programs at Imperial College, a video with Vogue Style, Reddit AMA, Team Halo that started as a collaboration between the United Nations and the Vaccine Confidence Project³and most recently her own TikTok account with 217K followers helping to articulate science and making our scientific giants household names. Most of her audience would not know the impact Anna has made in this global pandemic herself, whilst at Imperial College, London, Anna worked on the saRNA vaccine using the Precision Nanosystems Ignite. You can learn about this here.

3. Get to the point and deliver messages in simple terms

Underestimating the public is fraught with danger, so supplying clear concise information that is accessible is paramount. The American Psychological Association stated “psychologists who study fake news warn that it’s an uphill battle, one that will ultimately require a global cooperative effort among researchers, governments, and social media platforms” ⁴ We should be in front of the issue by educating everyone, demystify the processes of science, tap into our homegrown ‘scientific rockstars’ to help deliver clear and accurate information that everyone can understand. Having an intelligent population that can critically think given the information and skills is possible and can benefit everyone. Up until 18 months ago, mRNA, a once-dismissed idea, was not widely recognised outside the scientific world, and has now become a leading technology in the COVID vaccine race with many other genetic medicines on the way.

Effective communication is key as public health messaging becomes a battleground of opinion, and the debate of whether to go with shock ads or a more subtle approach is followed by hours of airtime over their effectiveness or lack thereof. There is no simple solution, but if we take a look at some of the most influential scientists in the world, like Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, etc. they all have one thing in common: their success was built on the results invariably born of a joint effort, benefiting from feedback, collaboration, teamwork and partnerships. By working together and effectively communicating scientific information, both scientists and non-scientists can help to overcome the great challenges of our time.

If you would like to know more about how ATA Scientific assists in promoting better science communication, how we invest in early career researchers with our travel grants or would like insight into how to move your research from discovery to the clinic, please contact Peter Davis pdavis@atascientific.com.au .

References

1) Dr Anna Blakney – Assistant Professor University of British Columbia Vancouver Canada.
2) Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda,
(https://www.nap.edu/catalog/23674/communicating-science-effectively-a-research-agenda)
3) Vaccine Confidence Project, search Professor Heidi J. Larson, Director.
4) ‘Controlling the spread of misinformation’ Accessed 8 July 2021,
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/03/controlling-misinformation

Engineering Vaccine Delivery: Fundamentals Of Creating Lipid Nanoparticles And Liposomes For Encapsulating Therapeutic Drug Molecules.

July 26, 2021Biomolecular Science - Guide, Guides & Resourcesatascientific

The terms Liposome and Lipid Nano Particle (LNP) are coined interchangeably. Whilst they are quite similar, they have some key differences that affect their application particularly as a drug delivery vehicle. Liposomes have a unique lipid bilayer vesicular structure and LNPs can have a variety of forms. Consider the cross section of a liposome resembling a doughnut where the payload or Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) is in the middle where the doughnut hole would be. A LNP has the outer lipid ring, but the core is dense and quite diverse depending on the cargo.

Increasingly both are being considered safe. There are more than 15 liposomal drug formulations on the market for indications such as cancer, fungal infections, macular degeneration, pain management, and vaccines (1). The world-first success of lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based siRNA therapeutics (ONPATTRO®) promises to accelerate developments in siRNA therapeutics/gene therapy using LNP-type drug delivery systems (DDS) and most recently the emergency approval for LNPs with COVID-19 vaccines vindicates this.

The need to create nanoparticles as drug carriers

Despite a long history of natural products in pharmaceutical compounds, increasingly these fall out of favour due to many factors but most of all they fail to clear clinical trial phases. There are major challenges for these larger materials including poor bioavailability, poor solubility, in-vivo instability amongst many others including a lack of target specific delivery. A conundrum faces the widespread implementation of genetic medicines, placing naked RNA or DNA into the body finds them rapidly destroyed, they fail similarly to the larger natural products. They need a delivery vehicle for protection given the immune system is elegantly designed to destroy vectors carrying genetic information.

Nanoparticles remain in the blood circulatory system longer enhancing their capacity to release their drugs at the dose required. They have cellular uptake advantages over larger particles thereby augmenting tissue penetration, targeted localisation, and efficient drug delivery and do it in stealth mode. It is argued this will reduce drug loading and side effects if the drug is directed to the diseased cells. Creating such nanoparticles may sound effortless but reality rapidly steps in to confront the ill-prepared. LNP systems for delivery of small molecule drugs represent a relatively mature technology and have led to rigorous design criteria, many of which carry over into the design of LNP systems for delivery of genetic drugs (2).

These criteria include a size range of 100 nm or less, highly efficient encapsulation processes, robust, scalable manufacturing processes, and product stability of at least 1 year at 4°C. A key feature is a relatively neutral surface exterior to avoid extensive adsorption of serum proteins onto the LNP. Such adsorption leads to rapid accumulation by the fixed and free macrophages present in the circulation (3) and consequent poor penetration to target tissue (2).

How to create uniform nanoparticles

There have been two main approaches to making nanoparticles; Top Down and Bottom up.

The top-down approach

Making liposomes often result in multilamellar vesicles (MLV) where the vesicles have an onion-like structure. Classically, several unilamellar vesicles will form on the inside of the other with smaller size, making a multilamellar structure of concentric phospholipid spheres separated by layers of water(4). There is a need to apply high energy techniques to attempt to achieve the required size, such dispersion methods include sonication, French style press extrusion, freeze-thaw, and homogenisation to quote a few. Sonication is extensively used for the preparation of small unilamellar vesicles (SUV). Here, MLVs are sonicated either with a bath type sonicator or a probe sonicator. The main disadvantages of this method are very low internal volume/encapsulation efficacy, possible degradation of phospholipids and compounds to be encapsulated, elimination of large molecules, metal pollution from probe tip, and presence of MLV along with SUV.

The bottom-up approach

The bottom-up approach to drug design has included a range of approaches such as supramolecular assembly, solvent evaporation, beaker precipitation, t-tube, and microfluidics, each with their apparent benefits. In solvent evaporation the drug is dissolved, dispersed, or emulsified into an organic polymer solution, which is then emulsified into an external aqueous or oil phase. Supersaturated beaker precipitation is helpful in poorly water-soluble drugs with limitations, T-Tube mixes are successful if things are mixed at very high speeds however the particle quality can be poor, and the reproducibility needs stringent control.

What has been the ‘holy grail’ is embracing supramolecular assembly and microfluidics. Capitalising on the charge components, skilful engineering can help small molecules interact to form a LNP with the help of a microfluidic mixer system. Laminar flow conditions and a mixing rate faster than assembly rate has proven to be effective and the method of choice for creating novel drugs that can be seamlessly scaled to full GMP manufacturing.

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Applications of Nanoparticles

Of the many attempts to find ‘the silver bullet’ that will seek out a diseased cell this class of LNP created by microfluidics shows the most promise with application in siRNA and oncology, mRNA and rare diseases, vaccines, small molecules, and Car T-Cell therapies. It clearly is not the panacea, but it opens new possibilities for treatments where there were none before. The technology is not new given Onpattro, a siRNA treatment delivered in a LNP, was FDA approved in 2018. Clinical trials are awash with a range of drugs, plus emergency approval for two mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 is a ‘further shot in the arm’ (pun intended) for genetic medicines globally.

Choosing Superior Solutions with ATA Scientific

Precision Nanosystems create a disruptive technology enabling transformative medicine – the NxGen platform. The proprietary NxGen microfluidic mixer at the heart of NanoAssemblr systems is designed exclusively for nanomedicine development. This range steps you through all the stages from concept to clinic, a journey of not only discovery and accelerated development, but a journey of accessibility. Never has research been so close to commercialisation, indeed soon researchers will be able to commercialise directly.

ATA Scientific supports all stages of this journey, not only the technologies and their requirements but we support the growth of the genetic medicine industry within Australia and New Zealand. ATA provides access to demonstration instruments and networking for our customers. Let us show you how easy it is to make LNP, contact Peter Davis today pdavis@atascientific.com.au.

References:

1) ‘Liposomes’ Accessed 19 July 2021https://www.precisionnanosystems.com/workflows/formulations/liposomes
2) Pieter R. Cullis1,∗ and Michael J. Hope2 Lipid Nanoparticle Systems for Enabling Gene Therapies.Mol Ther. 2017 Jul 5; 25(7): 1467–1475.Published online 2017 Apr 3. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2017.03.013
3) Chonn A., Semple S.C., Cullis P.R. Association of blood proteins with large unilamellar liposomes in vivo. Relation to circulation lifetimes. J. Biol. Chem. 1992;267:18759–18765. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
4) Abolfazl Akbarzadeh,corresponding author1 Rogaie Rezaei-Sadabady et al; ‘Liposome: classification, preparation, and applications’Nanoscale Res Lett. 2013; 8(1): 102. Published online 2013 Feb 22. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-8-102

Combine Particle Size with Shape analysis in real time

July 26, 2021Newslettersatascientific

Effects of Polymeric and Lipid Nanoparticle Self Amplifying RNA Formulation on Protein Expression and Vaccine Immunology, presented by Dr. Anna Blakney

July 10, 2021Newslettersatascientific

You may be asking, who is Dr Anna Blakney?
Dr Anna Blakney, Assistant Professor at The University of British Columbia, a bioengineer who is most recently working as COVID vaccine scientist. She specialises in drug delivery systems for the treatment of various types of infectious diseases. But that’s not all, Anna is also a Tik Tok star with over 217K followers!!!

Don’t Miss these Topics discussed:
•             What is Self amplifying RNA (saRNA)
•             Formulation strategies: Polymeric and Lipid Nanoparticles
•             Effect of formulation on protein expression and vaccine immunogenicity
Watch this presentation – Click here

NanoMedU Early Pre-clinical RNA Vaccines Training course
This course is aimed at providing pharmaceutical scientists with knowledge and confidence to start early preclinical development of RNA-LNP vaccines.

Part I – Fundamentals
This interactive, live virtual classroom session covers fundamentals of RNA-LNP formulations, self-assembly and RNA vaccines. Learn the importance of the 4 Pillars of RNA vaccine development, advantages and disadvantages of unmodified, base-modified and self-amplifying vectors and more.
Part 2 – Practical
Live guided instruction for preparing RNA-LNPs for early preclinical development. A NanoAssemblr® Ignite™ and the purchase of a GenVoy-ILM training kit and payload is required, in addition to the course cost. Successful completion of Part I is required.
REGISTER HERE

If you would like further information regarding these courses or anything else related to lipid, polymer or hybrid nanoparticle formulations carrying small molecules, peptides nucleic acids (and more), please contact us

Hydro Insight combines laser diffraction and imaging

July 8, 2021New productsatascientific

The new Hydro Insight, is a dynamic imaging accessory for the Mastersizer 3000 particle sizing instrument. It enables real-time particle imaging to help users to integrate particle size with particle shape analysis for more in-depth studies of material quality and behaviour.

Combining laser diffraction and imaging helps to accelerate the development of new methods, e.g switching from sieving to laser diffraction, and makes it easier to troubleshoot unexpected particle size results, ultimately improving the quality and performance of products.

How does it work?

Particles dispersed by the Mastersizer 3000’s wet accessories flow through the Hydro Insight, and are then photographed by a high-resolution digital camera at up to 127 frames per second. The camera takes images of the suspended particles in the analysis cell, converts them to a digital format, and sends the information to the software for final analysis in real time. Individual particle images are viewed directly and captured as image files for post-run processing. Contact us for more information or a quote today!