Targeted drug delivery using genetically engineered diatom biosilica

Genetically engineered nanocarriers for drug delivery

Cytotoxicity, low water solubility, rapid clearance from circulation, and off-target side-effects are common drawbacks of conventional small-molecule drugs. To overcome these shortcomings, many multifunctional nanocarriers have been proposed to enhance drug delivery. In concept, multifunctional nanoparticles might carry multiple agents, control release rate, biodegrade, and utilize target-media...

Dynamic Stabilization of Expressed Proteins in Engineered Diatom Biosilica Matrices.

Self-assembly of recombinant proteins within the biosilica of living diatoms represents a means to construct functional materials in a reproducible and scalable manner that will enable applications that harness the inherent specificities of proteins to sense and respond to environmental cues. Here we describe the use of a silaffin-derived lysine-rich 39-amino-acid targeting sequence (Sil3T8) th...

Advances in Targeted Drug Delivery

Advances in Targeted Drug Delivery

Self-assembly of drug-loaded liposomes on genetically engineered target-recognizing M13 phage: a novel nanocarrier for targeted drug delivery.

Liposomes have been a center of research for many years due to their numerous applications in chemistry, biology, medicine, and nanotechnology. They can be used to entrap materials such as drugs either within the central aqueous compartment if they are water soluble, or within the hydrophobic domain of the lipid bilayer if they are oil soluble. In addition, their surface can bemodified to reali...