NSEF Young Investigator Award Presentation: Nanostructured Materials and Bionanotechnology to Engineer Cells from the inside out and the Outside in

The Green lab synthesizes biodegradable polymers to construct nanostructured polymer/DNA polyplexes that are safe and effective for intracellular delivery of DNA and siRNA and that can be used to engineer target cells from the “inside out.”  Additionally, they develop biomimetic nanoparticles that act as artificial antigen presenting cells and that can program biological immune cells from the “outside in.” Both of these nanobiotechnologies will be discussed.  For intracellular delivery, the effect of differential polymer structure on multiple steps of intracellular delivery of nucleic acids will be discussed.  Modification of biomaterial structure enables cell-type specificity of nanostructured polyplexes in a range of cell types, including enabling cancer targeting. The role of particle size and morphology in constructing artificial antigen presenting cells and how these biomimetic particles can be used for immunotherapy will be also be presented.