I enjoy online shopping.
However, I often find myself fussing about the delivery options during checkout.
This is because not all delivery services are equally efficient and stress-free.
This personal experience has also inspired my research.
The World Health Organization estimates that in 2018,close to 10 million individuals died of cancer.
They pioneered a strategy using proteins called antibodies to bind to cancer cells.
This prevents the cancer cells from interfering with T-cells and suppressing them.
The second jot down of cancer immunotherapy, which I study, involves genetically engineering T-cells with tailored DNA.
Some T-cells may become hyperactive after DNA delivery and attack the patients own organs.
Improving DNA delivery
There are two predominant ways to deliver DNA into T-cells.
The first uses viruses to deliver DNA.
However, both are inefficient and have several disadvantages.
Viruses insert their own viral DNA into host cells alongside the therapeutic DNA during delivery.
This is dangerous, as the long-term consequence of having viral genes in our body is unknown.
Viruses can also triggertoxic immune responsessuch as persistent fever and evendeath.
These shortcomings paved the way for electroporation.
However, this technique is akin to a courier blasting holes in a persons home to deliver packages.
I and others have shown that this approachharms the T-cellsanddampens their cancer-fighting ability.
This is how MagNEI works.
Then I use magnets to secure these cells onto hollow nano-tubes.
These tubes are 10,000 times smaller in diameter than a grain of rice.
Magnetic forces then direct DNA into the nucleus of the cell.
This is a much gentler procedure than electroporation.
Left: T-cell decorated with magnetic particles that activate it, preparing it for DNA delivery.
Right: Scanning electron microscopic image of hollow nano-tubes.
For instance, I found that bulk electroporation causes significant changes in the activity of genes linked to metabolism.
That may explain why cells treated with this method grow slowly.
In the future, I hope to use nano-materials for delivering DNA to create cell-based therapies.
