Bioinspired functional DNA-nanomaterial conjugates for diagnostic and therapeutic applications

The study of the interface between chemistry, biology, and materials science not only advances the fundamental understandings of phenomena and materials at the nanoscale regime, but also produces novel functional materials with promising applications. Nanomaterials with size similar to biological molecules and systems have shown great promise for diagnostic and therapeutic applications due to their unique properties, such as fluorescent, plasmonic, magnetic, electrochemical, and other physical properties. To realize the full potential of nanomaterials for biomedical applications, nanomaterials have further been engineered with various surface functions. Among them, functional DNA (fDNA), as an analogue of antibodies and enzymes, has emerged as a new class of recognition agents for the functionalization of nanomaterials to allow specific binding against biological targets. Despite great achievements over the past decades, three major challenges still remain in developing nanomaterials towards better clinical theranostics. First, a general method for quantitative detection of biological substrates in vitro and in vivo has to be proposed. Second, the development of multifunctional nanomaterials for multimodal detection and targeted drug delivery should be achieved. Third, fine-tuning of the physical characteristics and biological properties of nanomaterials at the molecular level is required. In this document, new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and tools are demonstrated correspondingly to address the above-mentioned challenges by integrating fDNA with well-designed nanomaterials. First, the development of a quantitative ratiometric probe by using fDNA-Janus nanoparticle conjugates is presented. Second, a general platform using fDNA and liposomes is developed for the multimodal detection of small molecules and targeted breast cancer chemotherapy. Third, a novel single chain polymer-based organic nanoparticle system is demonstrated with a variety of carefully fine-tuned functionalities. The fDNA-nanomaterial conjugates demonstrated in this document not only possess attractive properties for diagnosis and therapeutic applications but also inspire the design and development of future biomedical tools.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Chemistry

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Xing, Hang

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lu, Yi
• Cheng, Jianjun
• Granick, Steve
• Suslick, Kenneth S.

• Functional DNA
• Nanomaterials
• Diagnostic and therapeutic applications
• Janus nanoparticle
• Liposome
• Organic nanoparticle

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2014 Hang Xing

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73011

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/73011