Nanodevices and nanoparticles enable study of biological phenomena from mapping protein-protein interactions to cancer detection in animals and humans. Recent advances in materials science, together with advances in imaging at the molecular level, have led to an outpouring of nanobiotechnology imaging research. 

Key to these advances is the emergence of functionalized nanoparticles that can be targeted specifically to biologically-important molecules, such as enzymes, to interact at the cellular level. In recent years, high-resolution devices for imaging inside living animal models of human disease and high-throughput techniques for generating new diagnostic and therapeutic targets and probes have proliferated.  

INBT researchers are developing nano-diagnostic tools and devices development while simultaneously advancing the field of nano-therapeutics in drug therapy, gene therapy, and immunotherapy. In the next 10 years we expect to be able to apply nano-therapeutics to cancer, cystic fibrosis, asthma, hemophilia, spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve regeneration, and vaccination. 

Projects include:

• functionalizing cells or bacterial spores with multi-modality imaging reporters
• development of multi-functional nanoparticles with imaging and therapeutic capacity
• development of fluorescent, mechanism-based agents to study trafficking within cellular organelles
• synthesis of magnetic resonance-based, high-sensitivity receptor probes to study, e.g., Her-2/neu expressing breast cancer
• engineering cells that produce imaging reporter proteins that can be detected with nuclear imaging or magnetic resonance-based techniques
• applications of synthetic and radiochemistry to quantum dots to follow their disposition in intact species
• translation of confocal, total internal reflectance fluorescence (TIRF) and other microscopic techniques to additional cellular and ultimately in vivo applications
• optimization of the synthesis and pharmacokinetic parameters of multifunctional nanoparticles, including quantum dots
• development of “smart” biosensors that employ fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and other methods of molecular activation (or deactivation), such as enzymatic cleavage
• improvement of the sensitivity, targeting, and biocompatibility of new nanomolecular imaging agents – extending their use to a wider array of potential clinical applications
• synthesis of new cationic polymers and inorganic nanrods for drug and gene delivery
• synthesis of DNA nanoparticles with controlled composition, size, polydispersity, shape, surface charge, stability, encapsulation capability, and targetability
• exploring new approaches of nanosynthesis using micro/nanofluidics
• establishing a theoretical framework to describe and predict the self-assembly process of DNA-polycation complexation
• identification of the rate-limiting steps of the gene transfer process using quantum dot technology
• engineering drug and DNA nanoparticles that can overcome tissue barriers to reach the cells in lung epithelium, gastrointestinal tract, muscle, liver, and spinal cord
• fabricating nanofibers endowed with biological signals of encapsulated drugs and growth factors for functional tissue engineering application