Guided magnetic nanostructures for targeted and high-throughput intracellular delivery

Abstract

A method of transporting biomolecular cargo intracellularly into cells includes the operations of providing magnetic nanostructures (e.g., nanospears, nanostars, nanorods, and other nanometer-sized structures) carrying the biomolecular cargo thereon and applying an external magnetic field to move the magnetic nanostructures into physical contact with at least some of the cells (or the cells into the magnetic nanostructures). The magnetic nanostructures move into physical contact with a single cell, a subset of cells, or all cells. The external magnetic field may be applied by a moving permanent magnet although an electromagnetic may also be used. The biomolecular cargo may include a molecule, a plurality of molecules, or higher order biological constructs. For example, the biological construct may include DNA plasmids, small interfering RNA, proteins, or targeted nuclease gene-editing cargo such as zinc-finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, Cas9 protein, Cas9 mRNA, and associated guide RNA sequences.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.