Meet the speaker - Principal Scientist Lennart Lindfors

Get a glimpse of the research that you will get the opportunity to learn more about at the Scheele symposium! The Scheele laureate Professor Pieter Cullis is a pioneer in the design, development and optimization of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for drug delivery and we will introduce the guest speakers who are all active in related fields. One of them is principal scientist Lennart Lindfors, AstraZeneca: 

How does your research relate to Prof. Cullis’s scientific work?
At AstraZeneca we have worked on mRNA containing lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) since 2014 – and Pieter Cullis is the grandfather of such systems. His contribution is enormous.

Can you explain the potential applications and impact of your research for drug discovery/drug development and for the benefit of patients?
Given the success of the two mRNA based Covid 19 vaccines, this technology has already been a success in terms of infectious diseases. Another application is gene editing which will in the future be able to cure diseases potentially with one dose. 

 What are some recent breakthroughs or discoveries that will advance in your field?
The next big thing is to be able to express a specific (intracellular) protein in a cell-specific manner e.g. using targeted mRNA LNPs (after intravenous dosing, avoid ApoE-LDLr mediated expression in hepatocytes). 

What advice would you give to aspiring researchers interested in pursuing a career in your research area, and how can they contribute?
To those interested in breaking new barriers, getting involved in solving several riddles in this field, for instance how the mRNA escapes the endosomes (and enters the cytosol) and what makes one LNPs better than another. To me this requires an efficient collaboration between everything between physics to biology.