NUS DNA-Barcoded Gold Nanoparticle Screening 2026

Screening platform

NUS researchers developed a high-throughput platform that attaches unique DNA barcodes to gold nanoparticles so multiple designs can be tracked and compared simultaneously in living tumour models. The team used the platform to identify particles capable of reaching mitochondria inside cancer cells, where they could potentially deliver therapies. The research team was led by Assistant Professor Andy Tay from NUS’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Health Innovation & Technology, and the study was published in Advanced Materials on 17 February 2026 (NUS, 12 May 2026, accessed 10 September 2026).

The barcode is a tracking method, not a therapeutic ingredient or a patient identifier. Each formulation receives a unique DNA sequence, allowing researchers to use next-generation sequencing to follow where it accumulates—from whole organs to tumour cell types and, ultimately, mitochondria. This multiplexed design lets investigators compare many candidates in the same living-system experiment and study biodistribution at tissue, cellular and subcellular scales (NUS, 12 May 2026, accessed 10 September 2026).

Experimental scale and data

The researchers tested a library of 30 nanoparticle designs varying in shape, size and targeting ligands, and generated more than 1,000 in-vivo data points while using about 30 times fewer in-vivo models than one-by-one screening would require. These figures describe the reported preclinical research design, not clinical testing or an approved cancer treatment. The comparison is about screening efficiency in the study’s experimental setting; it is not a claim that the platform reduces the number of human trials required or proves a particular formulation safe (NUS, 12 May 2026, accessed 10 September 2026).

Two findings illustrate the type of design question the platform can separate. Large spherical particles modified with folic acid accumulated strongly in tumours, while large cubic particles entered tumour cells more efficiently through clathrin-mediated endocytosis and showed effective mitochondrial delivery. NUS reported that a folic-acid-modified cubic formulation produced 99 per cent tumour regression in a preclinical combined treatment involving mitochondria-targeted RNA therapy and mild photothermal therapy. The result is a study outcome in tumour models, not a patient response rate or a licensed regimen (NUS, 12 May 2026, accessed 10 September 2026).

Translation boundary

The platform may support future targeted delivery of RNA therapies, gene-silencing treatments and photothermal agents for cancer and other diseases. NUS described the work as a research method for selecting nanoparticle designs; it does not establish human safety, regulatory approval, treatment efficacy in patients or availability as a clinical diagnostic or therapy. The reported combined treatment used small interfering RNA to disrupt mitochondrial gene expression and near-infrared light to generate heat, and the researchers observed effects on tumour-associated macrophages in preclinical studies. Those mechanisms are part of the experimental rationale, not a treatment recommendation (NUS, 12 May 2026, accessed 10 September 2026).

NUS says the team plans to expand the nanoparticle library and integrate automation and artificial-intelligence tools to analyse the resulting datasets, while also exploring targets beyond mitochondria. The appropriate interpretation is therefore “a platform that may accelerate candidate selection,” not “a completed cancer therapy.” Any move from tumour models to human use would require the relevant further evidence, development steps and regulatory assessment; the announcement supplies none of those approvals or timelines (NUS, 12 May 2026, accessed 10 September 2026).