Microfluidic technologies and devices for lipid nanoparticle-based RNA delivery

In 2021, mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 were approved by the Food and Drug Administration. mRNA vaccines are important for preventing severe COVID-19 and returning to normal life. The development of RNA-delivery technology, including mRNA vaccines, has been investigated worldwide for ~30 years. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are a breakthrough technology that stably delivers RNA to target organs, and RNA-loaded LNP-based nanomedicines have been studied for the development of vaccines and nanomedicines for RNA-, gene-, and cell-based therapies. Recently, microfluidic devices and technologies have attracted attention for the production of LNPs, particularly RNA-loaded LNPs. Microfluidics provides many advantages for RNA-loaded LNP production, including precise LNP size controllability, high reproducibility, high-throughput optimization of LNP formulation, and continuous LNP-production processes. In this review, we summarize microfluidic-based RNA-loaded LNP production and its applications in RNA-based therapy and genome editing.