Nanotechnology Commons^™

Rnai Nanotechnology: A Platform For Sirna Screening And Cancer Gene Therapy, Mayurbhai Ravikant Patel

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Over the past two decades, advances in RNA structural biology have improved our understanding of the structures and folding properties of naturally occurring RNAs. RNA sequences and structures participate in many specific biological functions, such as those performed by messenger RNA (mRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), micro RNA (miRNA), short-interfering RNA (siRNA), small nuclear RNA (snRNA) and many others. The noncoding RNAs, such as siRNA, do not express proteins but have been utilized in a wide range of applications, including RNA interference (RNAi) and the regulation of mRNA expression. These important biological functions have been implemented in gene …

Development Of New Biological Nanopores And Their Application For Biosensing And Disease Detection, Shaoying Wang

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Nanopore technology has recently emerged as a new real-time single molecule sensing method. The current dominant technologies, such as mass spectrometry and immunoassay, for protein analysis is still slow and complex, which can’t meet the urgent need and fields of use. Development of a highly simple, portable and sensitive detection system for pathogen detection, disease diagnosis, and environmental monitoring is in great need. Membrane embedded Phi29 connector nanopore, the first protein nanopore coming from bacteriophage, was mainly focusing on DNA and RNA translocation in previous studies. Here, Phi29 connector nanopore was first time established for antibody detection by engineering Epithelial …

Rna Nanotechnology For Next Generation Targeted Drug Delivery, Fengmei Pi

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

The emerging field of RNA nanotechnology is developing into a promising platform for therapeutically application. Utilizing the state-of-art RNA nanotechnology, RNA nanoparticles can be designed and constructed with controllable shape, size for both RNA therapeutics and chemical drug delivery. The high homogeneity in particle size and ease for RNA therapeutic module conjugation, made it feasible to explore versatile RNA nanoparticle designs for preclinical studies.

One vital module for therapeutic RNA nanoparticle design is RNA aptamer, which can enable the RNA nanoparticles find its specific target for targeted drug delivery. A system of screening divalent RNA aptamers for cancer cell targeting …

Towards Elucidation Of The Mechanism Of Biological Nanomotors, Zhengyi Zhao

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Biological functions such as cell mitosis, bacterial binary fission, DNA replication or repair, homologous recombination, Holliday junction resolution, viral genome packaging, and cell entry all involve biomotor-driven DNA translocation. In the past, the ubiquitous biological nanomotors were classified into two categories: linear and rotation motors. In 2013, we discovered a third type of biomotor, revolving motor without rotation. The revolving motion is further found to be widespread among many biological systems. In addition, the detailed sequential action mechanism of the ATPase ring in the phi29 dsDNA packaging motor has been elucidated: ATP binding induces a conformational entropy alternation of ATPase …

Rna As A Unique Polymer To Build Controllable Nanostructures For Nanomedicine And Nanotechnology, Hui Li

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

RNA nanotechnology is an emerging field that involves the design, construction and functionalization of nanostructures composed mainly of RNA for applications in biomedical and material sciences. RNA is a unique polymer with structural simplicity like DNA and functional diversity like proteins. A variety of RNA nanostructures have been reported with different geometrical structures and functionalities. This dissertation describes the design and construction of novel two-dimensional and three-dimensional self-assembled RNA nanostructures with applications in therapeutics delivery, cancer targeting and immunomodulation. Firstly, by using the ultra-stable pRNA three-way junction motif with controllable angles and arm lengths, tetrahedral architectures composed purely of RNA …