If you make nanomedicines 'floppy,' they can slide right through the thick mucus that usually blocks regular drugs.
March 25, 2026
Original Paper
Mechanical Flexibility Enables DNA Origami to Overcome Steric Confinement in Mucus
bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.03.21.713045
The Takeaway
Mucus is a primary barrier for drug delivery, usually filtering out particles based on size and charge. This study shows that mechanical flexibility is a 'cheat code' for nanocarriers: by making DNA-based structures squishy rather than stiff, they can deform and squeeze through tiny pores that would otherwise be impassable.
From the abstract
Size exclusion within biological hydrogels imposes a fundamental constraint on the design of nanocarriers, limiting the transport of cargo-loaded and structurally complex materials through mucus barriers. While surface passivation strategies are commonly used to improve compatibility, they do not address steric limitations imposed by the polymer network. Here, we introduce mechanical flexibility as an independent materials design parameter to expand the functional transport window of nanocarrier