CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Mirai Bio presented new preclinical data showing that its machine learning platform can optimize lipid nanoparticles for delivery to adipocytes, a cell type involved in obesity and metabolic diseases.
The Cambridge-based company presented the findings at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Annual Meeting 2026. Mirai Bio said the data support the potential of adipose tissue as a delivery target for nucleic acid medicines beyond the liver.
Lipid nanoparticles are used to deliver nucleic acid-based medicines, including mRNA therapies, into cells. Mirai Bio said adipocytes, or fat cells, have historically been difficult to reach, but could be important targets because of their role in obesity and related metabolic conditions.
“Nucleic acid medicines have enormous therapeutic potential, but that potential is only realized when the right cargo reaches the right cells at the right level of activity,” said Jagesh V. Shah, Ph.D., SVP, Head of Platform at Mirai Bio. “These data show that delivery is not an enabling step after cargo design; it is a core area of scientific innovation. By combining novel lipid chemistry, in vivo biodistribution data, and machine learning, Mirai is building a repeatable approach for multiparameter optimization of LNPs against the delivery attributes that determine whether a nucleic acid medicine can advance.”
Mirai Bio said its adipocyte program uses iterative in vivo machine learning optimization across LNP components and composition. The goal is to increase delivery to white adipose tissue while reducing off-target delivery to the liver and spleen.
In the data presented at ASGCT, the company screened more than 400 proprietary ionizable lipids for in vivo biodistribution and selected top-performing lipids for machine learning-guided optimization. Mirai Bio said the platform identified optimized LNPs with distinct component and composition profiles that improved adipocyte delivery and selectivity.
The company said lead LNPs achieved high white adipose tissue expression, low off-target signal and significant adipocyte transfection. Cellular profiling confirmed adipocyte delivery, while liver testing showed minimal off-target delivery for lead LNPs, according to the company. Flow cytometry also showed low off-target delivery to non-adipocyte cell populations.
“For partners, these findings create a path to cargo-ready delivery vehicles for adipocyte-directed programs in obesity and related metabolic diseases,” Shah said. “For the broader field, they show how Mirai can extend its platform across tissue-specific delivery challenges, creating scalable value from one of the most important constraints facing nucleic acid medicines.”
The data were presented by Jung Hoon Yang, Ph.D., Associate Director, Lead in LNP Productions at Mirai Bio, in an oral presentation titled “Maximizing delivery of mRNA lipid nanoparticles to adipocyte tissue through an iterative in vivo machine learning approach.”
