Gene Delivery with Organic Electronic Biomaterials

Abstract

Gene therapy may be capable of treating a variety of diseases, a prerequisite of which is the successful delivery of polynucleic acids (e.g., DNA, RNA) to a patient's cells. Delivery can be achieved technologically (e.g., using electroporation), using viruses (natural gene delivery vectors) or non-viral vectors (e.g., lipids, nanoparticles, polymers). This article aims to give the reader an overview of the use of organic electronic materials (i.e., fullerenes, graphenes and conjugated polymers) as non-viral gene delivery vectors.

Keywords: Organic electronics; biodegradable; carbon nanotubes; conjugated polymer; fullerene; gene delivery; gene therapy; graphene.