Our approach in drug delivery research
is to engineer efficient and specific nucleic acid delivery
systems from Nucleic Acid Engineered materials. For
example, a dendrimer-like DNA molecule is being constructed
to deliver DNA molecules themselves. A "plug-and-play"
gene delivery system is also under development. The
goal is to learn from virus and harness viral gene delivery
abilities without adding any infectious functions. These
viral/non-viral hybrid delivery systems will be able
to carry multiple drugs (genes, anti-genes (siRNA),
antibodies and small chemicals) to a cell with precisely-controlled
ratios. Applications may be found in research (e.g.,
transfection), clinical settings (e.g., gene therapy
and DNA vaccination), and agricultural systems (e.g.,
porcine somatotropin (pST) delivery).
We also focus on understanding the molecular and
cellular mechanisms (including uptake, transport,
and targeting) involved in nucleic acid-based drug
delivery. This will be achieved partially by development
DNA nanobarcodes for multiplexed FISH so that the
fate of delivered nucleic acids can be tracked easily.
Multi-drug delivery systems will also be utilized
to probe proteins involved in the delivery.
Related publications:
R. A. Gemeinhart, D. Luo, and W. M. Saltzman,
Cellular fate of a modular DNA delivery system mediated
by silica nanoparticles, Biotechnology Progress,
(2005)
C.A.H. Prata, Y. Zhao, P. Barthélémy,
Y. Li, D. Luo, T.J. McIntosh, S.J. Lee, and M.W. Grinstaff.
Charge-reversal amphiphiles for gene delivery. J
Am Chem Soc 126(39): 12196-7 (2004)
D. Luo, E. Han, N. Belcheva and W. Mark Saltzman,
A self-assembled, modular DNA delivery system mediated
by silica nanoparticles J. of Control. Release.
95, 333-341 (2004)
D. Luo. A new solution to improved gene therapy. Trends
in Biotechnology. 22, 101-103 (2004)
D. Luo (Editor) and W.M. Saltzman (Editor). Synthetic
DNA Delivery Systems. Kluwer Academic Publishers (2003)
D. Luo, K. Haverstick, N. Belcheva, E. Han and W.M.
Saltzman. poly(ethylene glycol)-conjugated PAMAM dendrimer
for biocompatible, high-efficiency DNA delivery.
Macromolecules, 35, 3456-3462
(2002)
Dan Luo and W. Mark Saltzman
“Synthetic DNA delivery systems”
Nature Biotechnology 18, 33-37, (2000)
D. Luo and W. M. Saltzman. Enhancement of transfection
by physical concentration of DNA at the cell surface.
Nature Biotechnology 18, 893-895,
(2000)
D. Luo, K. Woodrow-Mumford, N. Belcheva and W. M.
Saltzman. Controlled DNA delivery systems.
Pharmaceutical Research, Vol. 16,
(1999)
