Molecular Foundry Seminar

"Nanoplasmonics-enabled On-Demand Gene Silencing,"

Eunice Lee, Department of Electrical Engineering, UC Berkeley

Tuesday, February 23rd at 1:30 pm, Room 67-3111

Abstract:

Near infrared-absorbing gold nanoplasmonic particles (GNPs) are used here as nanoplasmonic switches for on-demand gene silencing in living cells. The plasmon resonance of GNPs is specifically tuned to the near-infrared spectral region where cells and tissues are essentially transparent. Due to their extraordinarily large surface-to-volume ratio, GNPs are ideal carriers of interfering oligonucleotides, such as antisense DNA and small interfering RNA (siRNA). Interfering oligonucleotides enable direct, sequence-specific silencing of genes, but alone, lack the temporal control necessary for precise manipulation. While interfering oligonucleotides are attached to GNPs, oligonucleotide functionality is inactivated. Using light illumination as a remote trigger to release free oligonucleotides and “activate” their functionality, genes can be silenced on-demand. Equipped with new nanoplasmonic tools to directly probe the intracellular space, quantitative approaches should capture many dynamic activities within the living cell that were otherwise previously impossible to detect using conventional methods.