Research Initiation Award - Basic Mechanism of DNA Assembly into Nano-shells

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Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at her home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Howard University has potential impact in the areas of nanomedicine and bio-detection. The research has broader societal impacts by generating a new line of self-assembled drug-delivery vehicles for transporting labile molecules into cells, and by enhancing the research experience and training of four undergraduate students for pursuing a career in the sciences or entry into graduate school.The goal of the project is to understand the mechanism of nanoshells formation by focusing on how mannobiosylation alters the polymer physics of the linear polyethylenimine backbone and therefore its interaction with DNA, and alters the packing interaction between condensed DNA. The three specific objectives are to 1) determine the effect of mannobiose on the interaction state of polyethylenimine in three biophysical regimes; 2) measure the self-adhesive and self-clustering interactions in mannobiose layers; and 3) measure the interactions between the intermediates of nanoshell assembly. The study uses an innovative approach that combines polymer phase maps, multi-parameter pH titrations, dynamic light scattering and atomic force spectroscopy. Preliminary data demonstrate that the approach is feasible.