Dr Driton Vllasaliu, Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (IPS), will lead the biomedicines project, with labs from Aston University and The University of Nottingham contributing.

The project, titled ‘Engineering of Extracellular Vesicles for Oral Delivery of Nucleic Acid Therapies’ will look to engineer nanometre-scale particles found in milk into advanced, yet inexpensive and accessible therapies based on nucleic acids. As project leader, King’s will provide unique expertise in extracellular vesicle engineering and oral drug delivery. The project will also draw together world-leading expertise in membranes from Aston University and formulation science from the University of Nottingham.

The £1.4 million will fund the project for two years and is one of 22 Mission Awards that were announced on Friday 9 February by Andrew Griffith, Minister for Science, Research and Innovation. The Mission Awards are part of a wider £100 million UKRI Technology Missions fund that will also create six new Engineering Biology Missions Hubs around the UK with the aim of transforming solutions in areas like vaccine, textile and food production. The fund will play a key role in achieving the goals of the government’s national vision for engineering biology that was announced in December 2023.

Dr Amanda continued: “This investment builds upon the UK’s significant strengths in Engineering Biology. The Hubs and Mission Awards will support collaboration between disciplines, with business, and across the regions and nations of the UK, as well as enable partnership with other countries. Together they make an important contribution towards realizing the ambitions set out in the UK Government’s National Vision for Engineering Biology.”