When he explains what he is researching during a birthday party, the scientist compares himself to a PostNL delivery person. “If you order a package, the packaging must protect the contents. This must be a sturdy box that is easy to transport and that has the correct address on it. It is no different with nanoparticles. I also make packages, but then so small that they can deliver something to cells in the body.”
Practical explanation
The comparison with a postman seems to typify Van der Meel. During the conversation, it is striking that the scientist, who received the prestigious VIDI grant last summer, explains his research in a very practical way. The fact that everyone was suddenly talking about vaccines and mRNA did not faze Van der Meel. He likes to tell what his work is about, even sees it as his responsibility. For example, he gave a lecture for the University of the Netherlands and organized Pint of Science, an event where scientists talk to a general public about their work while enjoying a beer in a café.
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Deliver medicines effectively
Medicines that are taken as pills, such as paracetamol, disintegrate in the stomach, are absorbed into the blood and then spread throughout the body, even where they are not needed. That is not a bad thing, because the side effects are minimal. For example, chemotherapy – which also spreads through the body in this way – is a different story. In addition to cancer cells, this therapy also destroys healthy cells.
The nanopackages that Van der Meel is working on should deliver medicines more effectively, so that they cause fewer side effects. He does this in particular for RNA medicines, the latest type of medicines that allow the body to produce proteins.
Van der Meel: “So the idea is that you can use the body as your own personal medicine factory. However, our bodies have learned to recognize foreign RNA as an indication of an infection and thus clear it. To use the body as a drug factory, you have to make sure that the RNA is not broken down and that it ends up in the right place in the body.”
To prevent it from breaking down, the RNA is trapped in fat globules that do not disintegrate until they are taken up by cells. As a result, the medicine is released at the right place.
The pandemic as acceleration
These fat globules, or lipid nano particles, are also used in the corona vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and CureVac. The nanotechnology was developed by Pieter Cullis’ research group at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Van der Meel was part of this group from 2015 to 2019.
Corona has accelerated research into RNA vaccines and medicines. While it normally takes years to market a vaccine, the mRNA vaccine was ready within a year. “I knew it was possible, because in 2018 the first drugs consisting of lipid nanoparticles were already approved. So the nanotechnology was already there. But I was amazed that it could go so fast.”
Precision Medicine Group
In 2019, Van der Meel is recruited by Professor Willem Mulder. The professor wants to set up a new group as a collaboration between TU/e and Radboud University Nijmegen. Recently, the Precision Medicine Group, of which Van der Meel is “manager”, went up for the first time retreat to Friesland. “Our group now consists of about fifteen or twenty people. It was very special to see them together, we have worked hard for that in recent years. Our first PhD student will go next year [assistent in opleiding, red.] to promote. That is also a huge milestone.”
If you ask Van der Meel, the Covid-19 vaccines are an “extremely good example” of the fusion of nanotechnology and the immunology field. It is also the strength of the research group. “TU/e is a real engineering school, not an academic hospital. Thanks to our link with Radboud University Nijmegen, we still have that link to the medical side.” The fact that he can make a direct impact on patients with his research is his greatest motivation. “Working on something with which you can really help people, that gives me a lot of motivation.”
2022: VIDI grant and a permanent contract
2022 was a harvest year for Van der Meel. This is how he received a VIDI grant. The goal is to develop nanotechnology that can deliver RNA to specific immune cells to further influence the immune response. Moreover, he also heard that last month tenure track has resulted in a permanent appointment. “Besides the VIDI fair, that is definitely a highlight. It means that my colleagues rate my research as innovative and progressive, so that’s great.”
“Working on something with which you can really help people, that gives me a lot of motivation.”
Roy van der Meel
For 2023 and the years after, Van der Meel has high expectations of the new generation of RNA medicines. “Look, now we can inject an RNA drug into the blood using nanotechnology. However, in the future we can modify those RNA packages in such a way that you can deliver them in a targeted manner. By inhaling RNA particles, we can, for example, combat lung diseases in a targeted manner.”
Cancer vaccines?
In addition, the scientist also sees that developments regarding gene editing go very fast. “Repairing genes is extremely interesting. Papers were published last year in which they can keep a patient’s cholesterol low for a year with one syringe of RNA drug. A major disadvantage of the mRNA vaccine is that it produces no lasting change. Of gene editing can you permanently influence the DNA. Perhaps in a few years we will be able to produce personal anti-cancer vaccines. Fortunately, developments in the field of technology and innovation continue despite everything. I find that very hopeful.”
Van der Meel is also personally looking forward to 2023. “I became a father of twins during the pandemic. Next year we will move with our family from an apartment to a new house. I am very much looking forward to that. Watching our twins grow up is actually the biggest, ongoing highlight.”