{"title":"System-level design of lipid nanoparticles for targeted RNA delivery","authors":"Emily L. Han, Michael J. Mitchell","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00431-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00431-x","url":null,"abstract":"Nucleic acid and gene therapies stand to revolutionize the treatment of cancers, genetic diseases, neurological disorders, and more. This Comment discusses critical biological phenomena across scales that should be considered when designing lipid nanoparticles for targeted delivery of nucleic acids, as well as computational and high-throughput technologies for studying these phenomena.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 9","pages":"483-487"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149014810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Targeting drug delivery technologies","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00434-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00434-8","url":null,"abstract":"In one of our earliest Editorials, we touched on the emergence of biomolecular engineering as a prominent subfield within chemical engineering. Here, we dive a level deeper to focus on drug delivery and its connections to core chemical engineering principles.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 8","pages":"431-431"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44286-026-00434-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148807815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pinned solid-state MnO2 channels enhance lanthanide separation","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00436-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00436-6","url":null,"abstract":"Lanthanides can be challenging to efficiently separate with high selectivity. Now, ionic channels in layered manganese oxide are shown to facilitate the aqueous separation of lanthanides through differences in confinement-induced phase changes and ion dehydration and coordination. Pinning the channel spacing with Mg2+ ions increases selectivity between pairs of light lanthanides.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 9","pages":"494-495"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149014755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hydrogen on the move","authors":"Yanfei Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00440-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00440-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 8","pages":"435-435"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148807810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Merging performance with manufacturability","authors":"Mo Qiao","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00439-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00439-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 8","pages":"434-434"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148807820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Shifting gears from scalability to efficiency in bioplastics manufacturing","authors":"Marie J. Jones, Jeremy S. Luterbacher","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00429-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00429-5","url":null,"abstract":"With polylactic acid being produced at an industrial scale, the next challenge is to improve efficiency and integrate recycled feedstocks. Now, an intensified esterification–dimerization route for producing l-lactide, identified through a combination of experiments, kinetic modeling and industrial-scale process simulations, offers the potential for higher yields, lower costs, reduced emissions and improved circularity.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 8","pages":"436-438"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148807817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nanoclusters in waste-derived electrolyte build electric fields at battery interfaces","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00432-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00432-w","url":null,"abstract":"Industrial waste liquids are often purified before reuse or discarded. Now, zeolite washing supernatants are shown to contain charge-heterogeneous nanofragments that can be used in aqueous Zn battery electrolytes. During Zn plating, these fragments self-assemble into a gradient interphase with a built-in electric field, guiding Zn ion transport and stabilizing Zn deposition.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 9","pages":"496-497"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149014812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Renewable energy that weathers the storm","authors":"Thomas Dursch","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00435-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00435-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 8","pages":"432-432"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148807816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How the cell nucleus gets in shape","authors":"Richard B. Dickinson, Tanmay P. Lele","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00430-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00430-y","url":null,"abstract":"Richard Dickinson and Tanmay Lele explain that the mammalian cell nucleus deforms with fixed surface area and volume and that limiting nuclear shapes in cells are governed by interfacial tension.","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 8","pages":"481-481"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148807814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transforming waste at droplet interfaces","authors":"Alessio Lavino","doi":"10.1038/s44286-026-00437-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44286-026-00437-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":501699,"journal":{"name":"Nature Chemical Engineering","volume":"3 8","pages":"433-433"},"PeriodicalIF":29.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148807809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}