(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-12)
Lowrey, Lanier C.
Gene regulation through small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a useful way to improve therapeutics and treat diseases. However, since siRNA is rapidly degraded by nucleases in the
bloodstream and is anionic and highly hydrophilic, it is not readily taken up by cells. Therefore, a variety of delivery systems that encapsulate siRNA are being developed to overcome these limitations. Protein nanoparticles have the potential to effectively deliver siRNA because siRNA can be encapsulated during the fabrication process. In this work, we have encapsulated siRNA inside 200 nm cationic bovine serum albumin (cBSA) nanoparticles. The positive charge on the cBSA protein enables the negative charge of the siRNA to electrostatically attract, creating a more stable nanoparticle. We measured nanoparticle uptake and intracellular delivery to GFP-3T3 cells using a combination of flow cytometry and fluorescence knockdown assays. cBSA protein nanoparticles are an innovative way to encapsulate siRNA, with the ability to adjust the amount of siRNA in the nanoparticle as needed and stable attraction of siRNA and cBSA protein.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05)
Wang, Thomas
Self-pillared pentasil (SPP) MFI is a novel hierarchical zeolite material with a simple and economic synthetic route that has potential use in designs for acid-base bifunctional catalysts. With a high abundance of Brønsted acid sites, aluminosilicate SPP MFI have unique advantages in catalyzing hydrolysis of acetal compounds, which can form aldehydes that can proceed to participate in the Knoevenagel condensation. Immobilization of amine groups through grafting has been shown to produce a catalyst that can catalyze a cascade of acetal hydrolysis and Knoevenagel condensation to near completion within 10 hours. Additionally, the incorporation of palladium nanoparticles can create a catalyst with a further function of selectively hydrogenating the carbon-carbon double bond of the Knoevenagel product, which will require assessment in terms of its performance and reusability in further kinetic experiments.