High Efficiency Transfection via Nanospearing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): NanoLab is proposing to develop a new biomolecule delivery technique named "nanospearing", based on its previously published work. DNA plasmids are immobilized on magnetically susceptible, needle-like nanostructures. These needles can be magnetically accelerated to penetrate ('spear') the cell membrane. The plasmid DNA bound to the nanotubes can be released and expressed in the cells. Two pieces of equipment, called GeneBlender and GeneHammer, are proposed for spearing cells in suspension and on substrates respectively. Theoretical analysis is to to be used for optimizing the system configuration so that nanotubes can be driven to their highest speed for spearing. Different molecular immobilization strategies will be tested to achieve the efficient plasmid loading. Upon ressolving the potential pitfalls, the process will be universalized and packaged into a transfection kit. The development will be focused on plasmid DNA delivery at this phase. It is enasaged for applications in vivo, such as drug delivery and vaccination.