• Intracellular Gene Delivery: Understanding rate-limiting steps to efficient transfection

Endocytosis is the cellular process by which molecules, such as proteins, are absorbed from outside the cell membrane by engulfing within a membrane-bound vesicle. Once compartmentalized, these endosomes are either recycled back to the surface or are sorted for degradation through acidification. Since most non-viral carriers of DNA depend on endocytosis for their import into cells; endosomal release and the subsequent DNA release therefore corresponds to two of the most important barriers to efficient transfection. We are actively involved in using physical techniques including SAXS and FCS to better understand these mechanisms and ultimately engineer better optimized gene delivery systems

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