Nano-fibrous scaffolding mimics aspects of the extracellular matrix to improve cell function and tissue formation. Although several methods exist to fabricate nano-fibrous scaffolds, the combination of phase separation with reverse solid freeform fabrication (SFF) allows ...
Today, there is major interest within the biomedical community in developing accurate noninvasive means for the evaluation of bone microstructure and bone quality. Recent improvements in 3D imaging technology, among them development of micro-CT and micro-MRI scanners, allow in-v ...
Bioreducible polycations, which possess disulfide linkages in the backbone, have appeared as promising gene delivery carriers due to their high stability in extracellular physiological condition and bioreduction-triggered release of genetic materials, as well as reduced c ...
Nucleic acid-based therapies offer the option to treat tumors in a highly selective way, while toxicity towards healthy tissue can be avoided when proper delivery vehicles are used. We have recently developed carrier systems based on linear polyethylenimine, which after chemical coup ...
Amphipathic, pH-responsive, membrane-active peptides such as LAH4 and derivatives thereof have the ability to effectively deliver genes and small interfering RNA (siRNA) into mammalian cells. Their ability to bind and protect nucleic acids and then disrupt membranes when activat ...
Lipidic vesicles have been extensively studied for their capacity to condensate and deliver nucleic acids to the cells. Many different amphiphilic lipidic structures have been proposed, each of them bringing some advances in nonviral gene transfection. The ionic or neutral nature of t ...
Noninvasive, real-time optical imaging methods are well suited to follow the in vivo distribution of nucleic acid nanocarriers, their dissociation, and the resulting gene expression or inhibition. Indeed, most small animal imaging devices perform bioluminescence and fluoresc ...
For the systemic application of nucleic acids such as plasmid DNA and small interfering RNA, safe and efficient carriers that overcome the poor pharmacokinetic properties of nucleic acids are required. A cationic liposome that can formulate lipoplexes with nucleic acids has signific ...
Cationic polyplexes and lipoplexes are widely used as artificial systems for nucleic acid delivery into the cells, but they can also induce cell death. Mechanistic understanding of cell toxicity and biological side effects of these cationic entities is essential for optimization str ...
Cellular toxicity and/or cell death entail complex mechanisms that require detailed evaluation for proper characterization. A detailed mechanistic assessment of cytotoxicity is essential for design and construction of more effective polycations for nucleic acid deliver ...
Among beneficial applications of nanotechnology, nanomedicine offers perhaps the greatest potential for improving human conditions and quality of life. Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), with their unique properties, have potential to improve therapy of many human disorde ...
Retrograde intrabiliary infusion (RII) has recently been characterized as a safe and effective administration route for liver-targeted gene delivery. Efficient transgene expression in the liver has been achieved by infusing a variety of gene vectors including adenovirus, retr ...
Pulmonary siRNA delivery has attracted strong interest and has been reported to successfully mediate target gene knockdown in a number of disease models. However, the nature of the epithelial cells that eventually take up siRNA and the question if other lung cell types may also be transfected h ...
RNA interference is a relatively new tool used to silence specific genes in diverse biological systems. The development of this promising new technique for research and therapeutic use in studying and treating neurological diseases has been hampered by the lack of an efficient way to deliv ...
Lipidic magnetic nanoparticles are a rapid and reliable magnet-guided nucleic acid delivery system, which we have named as “LipoMag” (Namiki et al., Nat. Nanotechnol 4:598–606, 2009). LipoMag is composed of a cationic lipid shell, an oleic acid binder, and an iron oxide nanocrystal core. Through ...
Targeted gene or drug delivery aims to locally accumulate the active agent and achieve the maximum local therapeutic effect at the target-site while reducing unwanted effects at nontarget sites. A further development of the magnetic drug-targeting concept is combining it with an ultra ...
For gene therapy to work in vivo, nucleic acids need to reach the target cells without causing major side effects to the patient. In many cases the gene only has to reach a subset of cells in the body. Therefore, targeted delivery of genes to the desired tissue is a major issue in gene delivery. Many different poss ...
Synthetic vector-based gene delivery systems continue to gain strength as viable alternatives to viral vectors due to safety and other concerns. DNA release dynamics is key to the understanding and control of gene delivery from nano-systems. Here we describe atomic force microscope app ...
The delivery of nucleic acids to mammalian cells requires a potent particulate carrier system. The physicochemical properties of the used particles, such as size and surface charge, strongly influence the cellular uptake and thereby the extent of the subsequent biological effect. How ...
Gene expression within a cell population can be directly altered through gene delivery approaches. Traditionally for nonviral delivery, plasmids or siRNA molecules, encoding or targeting the gene of interest, are packaged within nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are then del ...