Investigation of the impact of polymer brush hydrophobicity and conformational rigidity on oligonucleotide uptake

Gene therapy has potential in treating diseases, but challenges remain in improving stability and efficacy of vectors. Polycationic brushes on nanoparticles have shown promise in capturing genetic material with high transfection efficiencies. This proposal aims to investigate the architecture of complexes formed by RNA and mRNA with dense brushes made of various polymers to identify the optimal brush chemistry and architecture for delivering different types of RNA molecules.