Final Project

Phase 1 - Project Ideas

Requirements

• Must include concepts of at least three classes
• Should include DNA-synthesis at some point
• (Bio)ethical evaluation

Project idea #1: Design of non-viral, immune system-friendly delivery systems

• Arc/Arg3.1 is an immediate early gene responsible for long-term memory formation
• The Arc protein can assemble itself into a vesicle that transports its own mRNA intercellularily (Neuron to Neuron)
  • Capsid only forms in presence of mRNA
  • Arc encapsulates the most abundant mRNA (not important whether it encodes Arc or not)
• Can Arc capsids be a blueprint for synthetic virus-like vesicles for RNA based drugs?
• Arc capsids have capacity for 2.3 kb. Can it fit multiple mRNAs? Can the cargo size be increased?
• Designed Arc-like capsids might need to be orthogonalized.
• Assay needed to assess designed delivery systems

The Arc capsid. PDB ID: 6TAQ