Block copolymer micelles for gene delivery

We propose to use SAXS at ID02 to investigate the structures of micelleplexes formed in aqueous solution by charged micelles from triblock terpolymers and long or short DNA. These triblock terpolymers feature permanently hydrophilic and cationic blocks in their shell, which can complex the negatively charged nucleic acids by electrostatic interaction. We propose a thorough SAXS investigation of such micelleplexes in dependence on the degree of charge of the polymers, the ionic strength, the length of the DNA and the amine/phosphate ratio.