Leveraging Analytical Ultracentrifugation for Comprehensive Characterization of Lipid Nanoparticles in Drug Delivery Systems| 1Accelerating Answers Background Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) is a well-established biophysical technique for the characterization of macromolecules. It has become the gold standard characterization method for adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) to determine particle loading states1 and has recently been applied to characterize lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) using sedimentation velocity and density contrast methods.2,3 Both methods provide information on the purity and comparability of different formulations. Density contrast AUC is used to experimentally determine the sample's density or partial specific volume distribution, enabling the characterization of unloaded particles, RNA copy number in the LNPs, and size distributions. AUC provides an array of unique information from a single technique, opens new possibilities, and enhances the characterization of LNPs for safer therapeutics.APPLICATION NOTE