Samagya Banskota

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June 16, 2026

Samagya Banskota

Using viruslike particles to present therapies safely and effectively

By Kate Wong

Jessine Hein

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Samagya Banskota grew up successful a family of doctors successful Nepal, alert from a young property of really physicians could alteration people’s lives. Today she is simply a biomedical technologist astatine Boston University, studying ways to create safer, much effective therapies for a multitude of diseases.

Banskota is creating alleged viruslike particles to present gene-editing technologies to cells. These engineered particles person macromolecule structures that lucifer those of viruses and tin target circumstantial cells successful nan body, but they deficiency immoderate familial worldly of their own, truthful they’re not infectious. By packaging gene-editing devices successful this way, her squad has been capable to debar nan problems associated pinch utilizing existent viruses to present therapies.

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Portrait photograph of Samagya Banskota by Tony Luong.

Other investigators person shown that viruslike particles tin present gene-editing machinery to cells successful petri dishes. But Banskota and her colleagues were nan first to successfully show this attack successful surviving organisms astatine a therapeutic level, restoring partial ocular usability successful mice pinch familial blindness. “Proteins person nan shortest half-life, truthful they spell in, they do nan job, and they conscionable get destroyed wrong a fewer hours,” she explains. “We don’t person to interest astir immoderate different broadside effects that whitethorn travel from prolonged expressions of these systems.”

These viruslike particles could beryllium utilized to present therapies different than gene-editing materials, Banskota notes. Antibody narcotics specified arsenic Herceptin, for bosom cancer, are lab-engineered proteins. They tin beryllium very powerful, but they activity by targeting proteins connected nan extracurricular of cells. The drivers of a batch of quality diseases—including respective cancers and neurological diseases—are located wrong cells, wherever specified therapies can’t scope them. “With our transportation strategy being truthful bully for macromolecule delivery,” Banskota says, “I deliberation it opens up a full caller class of medicines for diseases that we perchance tin treat.”

This article is portion of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent task that was produced pinch financial support from Regeneron.

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