Challenges in AAV-Based Retinal Gene Therapies and the Role of Magnetic Nanoparticle Platforms.

Retinal diseases, leading to various visual impairments and blindness, are on the rise. However, the advancement of retinal gene therapies offers new hope for treatment of such diseases. Among different vector systems for conferring therapeutic genetic load to retinal cells, adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) have been most intensively explored and have already successfully gained multiple clinical approvals.

Magnetically Guided Adeno-Associated Virus Delivery for the Spatially Targeted Transduction of Retina in Eyes.

Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are intensively explored for gene therapies in general and have found promising applications for treating retina diseases. However, controlling the specificity (tropism) and delivery of AAVs to selected layers, cell types, and areas of the retina is a major challenge to further develop retinal gene therapies. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) provide effective delivery platforms to magnetically guide therapeutics to target cells.

as a cell factory for the production of pyomelanin, a molecule with UV-C radiation shielding activity.

Melanins are complex pigments with various biological functions and potential applications in space exploration and biomedicine due to their radioprotective properties. Aspergillus niger, a fungus known for its high radiation resistance, is widely used in biotechnology and a candidate for melanin production. In this study, we investigated the production of fungal pyomelanin (Pyo) in by inducing overproduction of the pigment using L-tyrosine in a recombinant Δ mutant strain (OS4.