Weaving together expertise in polymer science and chemical engineering with inspiration from nature, Hammond Lab researchers — as published in Angewandte Chemie — have designed a bioinspired delivery system for messenger RNA (mRNA) that is far more efficient than delivering these strands of genetic material on their own. mRNA holds great promise for treating disease, including cancer, but presents numerous challenges in delivering them to cells for high gene expression. The team's approach, attaching poly-A binding proteins to the mRNA tail and assembling the complex with a polymer, translates into more effective delivery to ribosomes for increased production of desired proteins. This work was supported in part by a Koch Institute Quinquennial Cancer Research Fellowship.