# An ultra-selective drug delivery platform technology using modular viral fusogen-actuated liposomes

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2021 · $27,883

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Liposomal drug encapsulation has recently gained significant traction as a therapeutic delivery modality,
especially as a means of enhancing localized drug release or direct delivery in cancerous tissues with reduced
drug side effects. The majority of “targeted” liposome technologies feature vesicles displaying ligands or
binding proteins that bind to specific cell-surface moieties on target cells to enable selective liposome
attachment. Absent any further mechanistic regulation of these systems, liposomes are fated to release
contents to the extracellular space near the target cell or enter target cells via endosomal pathways, which
limits the type of drug that can be delivered as well as the efficiency of cytoplasmic delivery. A few liposome
technologies exist which feature proteins or liposomal chemistries that enable membrane fusion to allow either
direct entry of drug payloads into the cytosol or endosomal escape. However, these approaches are greatly
limited by their inability to simultaneously target predefined receptors of interest with minimal risk of non-
specific delivery to other cell types in heterogeneous tissues or organs, while enabling direct cytosolic entry
through membrane fusion between the liposome and the target cell. In this work, we propose to develop a
modular, ultra-selective liposomal delivery platform technology which utilizes a system of retargeted viral fusion
proteins that bind a target receptor of interest to directly trigger membrane fusion at the cell surface and enable
cytosolic payload delivery, while minimizing off-target delivery. As proof-of-concept, we will employ this system
to deliver payloads to HER2-positive cells in an expression-dependent manner, to demonstrate ultra-selective
delivery to breast cancer cells in heterogeneous cultures.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10251885
- **Project number:** 5F31CA236190-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Victor Alexander Garcia
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $27,883
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2022-08-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10251885

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10251885, An ultra-selective drug delivery platform technology using modular viral fusogen-actuated liposomes (5F31CA236190-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10251885. Licensed CC0.

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