Elucidation of the nanostructure of DNA/RNA complexes with cationic polymer brushes

Although the field of gene therapy has matured quickly clinically, a few challenges remain. These include improvement of the stabilisation of complexes and protection of the genetic material to be delivered, as well as enhancement of their therapeutic efficacy over prolonged periods of time. We have previously shown that polycationic brushes decorating the surface of nanoparticles have promising properties for the stable capture of RNA oligonucleotides and display high transfection efficiencies. We aim to elucidate the architecture of complexes formed of RNA and DNA double stranded oligonucleotides, mRNA molecules and larger double-stranded DNA molecules with dense poly(dimethylaminoethyl) (PDMAEMA) brushes. This will help identify how to best engineer brush architecture for the delivery of different types of RNA/DNA molecules.