Nucleic acid-mediated shape control of nanoparticles
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsYi Lu, Zidong Wang
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Abstract
Embodiments of a method to use nucleic acid oligomer sequences for modulating the shape of nanoparticles are disclosed, as well as nanoparticles and methods of using the nanoparticles. Systematic variations of the nucleic acid sequences offer mechanistic insights into the morphology control. A plurality of nucleic acid oligomers is adsorbed onto a metal nanoseed to provide an oligomer-functionalized nanoparticle. Additional metal is deposited onto the oligomer-functionalized nanoparticle to produce a shaped nanoparticle having a morphology based at least in part on the nanoseed morphology and the oligomer's sequence composition. Embodiments of methods for using the shaped nanoparticles also are disclosed.
Claims20
A method for making a shaped nanoparticle, comprising:
- providing a metal nanoseed;
- selecting a nucleic acid oligomer having an oligomer sequence composition comprising at least two unique sequence segments, each sequence segment having a length of at least five nucleobases selected from the group consisting of A, C, G, T, U, and modified nucleobases;
- adsorbing a plurality of the nucleic acid oligomers onto the metal nanoseed to produce an oligomer-functionalized nanoseed;
- and
- depositing metal onto the oligomer-functionalized nanoseed to make a shaped nanoparticle, wherein the shaped nanoparticle has a morphology based at least in part on the oligomer sequence composition.
A method, comprising:
- administering to a subject a shaped nanoparticle comprising a metal nanoparticle, and a plurality of nucleic acid oligomers, each nucleic acid oligomer having an oligomer sequence composition comprising at least two unique sequence segments, each sequence segment having a length of at least five nucleobases selected from the group consisting of A, C, G, T, U, and modified nucleobases;
- and
- detecting the shaped nanoparticle in the subject.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.