Project presentation

          PN-II-ID-PCCE-2011-2-0028 project aims to design, develop and evaluate some nano-scale structural and functional entities, active as non-viral carriers of useful genetic pieces of information, able to vehiculate nucleic acids segments of significant lengths, so that they could become useful as “tools” in transfection studies. The main challenge assumed by the project is to produce carriers having reproducible characteristics, and calibrated carrying capacities. In this respect, the central idea of the project is to mimic the packaging systems and the transport mechanisms of nucleic acids intracellular trafficking.
          The pragmatic objective of the project is to feature the nano-entities with at least the following parameters: (i) the general structure of a polyplex, either stable or dynamic modular as composition, (ii) the functionality of a cargo-complex that chemomimic the histones, morphomimic the nucleosome, and biomimic virus like gene vectors, (iii) the ability to include or to reversibly bind and transport (bio)chemical species necessary to assist the nucleic acids during their extracellular transport and intracellular trafficking, and (iv) the ability to physical-chemical associate to artificial extracellular matrices, in order to generate delivery systems with transfection abilities, for ex vivo applications.
          Structurally, the project is circumscribed to three of the most dynamic domains in modern scientific research: (i) biomimetics, (ii) nanochemistry and (iii) genetic reprogramming. It intends to contribute by introducing an engineering-like perspective on producing reproducible nano-scale scientific “tools”: the functional calibration of the specific abilities of the said “tools”.
          Such a perspective creates certain opportunities towards the application of the developed nano-entities in the realm of genetic (re)engineering, into the paradigm of translational research.