Question to be addressed Electroporation, lipid transfection, and biolitic particle delivery systems have been used to deliver genetic material into cells but either are unsuitable for delivery to mammals; or there is lack of success in delivering the DNA

Design of a Nanoparticle of a DNA Plasmid for Intracellular Delivery

Question to be addressed

Electroporation, lipid transfection, and biolitic particle delivery systems have been used to deliver genetic material into cells but either r are unsuitable for delivery to mammals; or there is lack of success in delivering the DNA material intact to the target cells. It should be possible to design a nanoparticle containing genetic coding as plasmid DNA for intracellular delivery. The design and assembly of such nano-structure can be achieved utilizing methods currently used in structural DNA nanotechnology and constitutes an exciting new area of development in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology.

The aim of this study is to utilize structural DNA technology methods for the design of a nano-architecture using a double stranded DNA plasmid. In order to achieve this goal the Project Proposal will contain two main features:

(i) A review of the literature should allow for the selection of a currently available plasmid that encodes for a fluorescent protein. The fluorescent protein will allow for assessing intracellular delivery and functionality of the plasmid.

(ii) The proposal should contain the principles of DNA nanotechology that will be employed for the design of the nanoparticle.

Objective of the Project

In this project our aim is to design a nanoparticle containing a DNA plasmid with suitable dimensions for delivery into cells.

Methods

Computer based project using:

· Cadnano (cadnano.org)

· Vector diagrams using Inkscape (inkscape.org/en)

· AutoCAD Maya

Expected outcome(s)

Plasmid and list of DNA staples, along with their organization (vector diagrams, graphs, illustrations).

References

- Donnelly JJ, Wahren B, Liu MA. DNA vaccines: Progress and challenges. J Immunol 2005; 175(2): 633-639.

- Lin C, Liu Y, Yan H. Designer DNA Nanoarchitectures. Biochemistry (N.Y.) 2009; 48(8): 1663-1674.

- Dietz H, Douglas SM, Shih WM. Folding DNA into Twisted and Curved Nanoscale Shapes. Science 2009; 325(5941): 725-730.