The new killer RNA molecule has to get inside the cancer cells. For this to happen, they have to be packaged inside a protective coating of fat molecules. Working out which fat molecules to use and how to get them to coat the RNA will be the second major problem that Dr Akhtar will have to solve. If these problems can be solved and a new type of RNA drug developed to treat glioblastomas, it will still be several years before we are at a stage to use such a drug on patients. Before that can happen, Dr Akhtar and his colleagues have to solve the scientific puzzles presented by this new cancer research project.
All cells contain a set of coded instructions called genes.
These are the blueprints for all the functions of the cell. This RNA copy is then used by the cell to build a protein molecule. Each different protein molecule carries out one specific function. If the RNA copy of a particular gene is destroyed, the protein in question cannot be built and the cell will not be able to carry out that function.