Biomimetics: From Bioinformatics to Rational Design of Dendrimers as Gene Carriers.

ABSTRACT: Biomimetics, or the use of principles of Nature for developing new materials, is a paradigm that could help Nanomedicine tremendously. One of the current challenges in Nanomedicine is the rational design of new efficient and safer gene carriers. Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are a well-known class of nanoparticles, extensively used as non-viral nucleic acid carriers, due to their positively charged end-groups. Yet, there are still several aspects that can be improved for their successful application in in vitro and in vivo systems, including their affinity for nucleic acids as well as lowering their cytotoxicity. In the search of new functional groups that could be used as new dendrimer-reactive groups, we followed a biomimetic approach to determine the amino acids with highest preva

SUBMITTER: Marquez-Miranda V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4575034 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature