Nanostructures in Biology and Medicine

Spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) are often comprised of an inorganic nanoparticle core functionalized with a densely organized and highly oriented nucleic acid shell, and they can act as highly efficacious gene regulation agents in antisense and RNAi pathways and extremely sensitive and selective probes in intracellular detection strategies. Remarkably, these negatively charged structures have been shown to enter all cell lines tested to date (over 50, including primary cells) in large quantities without the use of cationic transfection agents or additional particle surface modifications by recruiting scavenger receptors that facilitate their endocytosis. Further, SNAs are not prone to intracellular enzymatic degradation and do not elicit an immune response.  Methods to synthesize and engineer these unique materials and current cellular and animal work that take advantage of their unique chemical and physical properties in the context of nanotherapeutic and diagnostic schemes will be described.  SNAs are quickly becoming a cornerstone of the life sciences industry, and are revolutionizing medicine by enabling new innovations not achievable with traditionally-used materials.