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Murphy and his lab members believe they\u2019ve found a viable alternative that could allow mRNA therapeutics to be stored at room temperature. In a new paper in the journal Acta Biomaterialia<\/em><\/a>, the researchers detail how using mineral coatings can maintain mRNA activity for up to six months. With that kind of preservation, mRNA therapeutics\u2014including vaccines against infectious diseases and emerging treatments for cancer and tissue regeneration (the latter another Murphy lab project)\u2014could be stored on the shelf at local clinics, allowing them to reach lower-resourced communities across the country and world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Study lead author Joshua Choe, an MD\/PhD student in Murphy\u2019s lab, screened 40 different mineral compositions to optimize their ability to maintain the mRNA stability in simpler formulations than clinically deployed vaccines. In the end, he identified a composition with the suitable amount of citrate and fluoride that maintained the potency of freeze-dried mRNA complexes. He\u2019s now applying the approach to similar lipid nanoparticles used in COVID vaccines, with promising early results. The group has submitted a provisional patent based on the work through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll the way to six months, you\u2019re maintaining that activity, whereas without using our mineral to store those mRNA therapeutics, you lose quite a bit of the activity after two weeks, and then it declines to almost nothing,\u201d says Choe, who hopes to work as an orthopedic surgeon and researcher after graduating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The approach draws inspiration from ancient fossils\u2019 documented ability to preserve DNA and proteins. Scientists successfully extracted DNA to analyze the genome of \u201cDenny,\u201d<\/a> an estimated 90,000-year-old hominin whose remains were found in a Russian cave in 2012. In another find in Tanzania, researchers found intact proteins in ostrich eggshells<\/a> that date to 3.8 million years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murphy\u2019s lab has been using minerals to stabilize biological molecules for various biomedical applications for about 15 years, and Choe saw an opportunity to apply the tactic to mRNA therapeutics while working in the lab during the lockdown days of winter 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n