IZBrunch, Thursday, October 22, 2026

Prof. Dr. Olivia Merkel
Chair Holder and Deputy Director, Department of Pharmacy, LMU Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy

RNA therapeutics hold enormous potential for treating pulmonary diseases, but getting the right RNA into the right cells remains a major challenge. This talk will show how tuning nanoparticle structure and targeting can translate into functional gene silencing in the diseased lung and present new data pushing these systems toward preclinical therapeutic applications.

Dr. Benjamin Winkeljann
Co-founder and CEO of IZB-based start-up RNhale

While advances in nanomedicine are improving how RNA reaches target cells, successful pulmonary therapies also depend on how these medicines are delivered to the lung. This talk will explore the fundamentals of inhaled drug delivery, including aerosol generation, formulation design, particle engineering, and inhaler technologies, and present recent developments supporting the translation of RNA therapeutics into inhaled medicines.