Injectable, Guest-Host Assembled Polyethylenimine Hydrogel for siRNA Delivery

While siRNA has tremendous potential for therapeutic applications, advancement is limited by poor delivery systems. Systemically, siRNAs are rapidly degraded, may have off-target silencing, and necessitate high working concentrations. To overcome this, we developed an injectable, guest-host assembled hydrogel between polyethylenimine (PEI) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) for local siRNA delivery. Guest-host modified polymers assembled with siRNAs to form polyplexes that had improved transfection and viability compared to PEI. At higher concentrations, these polymers assembled into shear-thinning hydrogels that rapidly self-healed. With siRNA encapsulation, the assemblies eroded as polyplexes which were active and transfected cells, observed by Cy3-siRNA uptake or GFP silencing in vitro. When injected into rat myocardium, the hydrogels localized polyplex release, observed by uptake of Cy5.5-siRNA and silencing of GFP for 1 week in a GFP-expressing rat. These results illustrate the potential for this system to be applied for therapeutic siRNA delivery, such as in cardiac pathologies.

Rapid fabrication of precise high-throughput filters from membrane protein nanosheets

Biological membranes are ideal for separations as they provide high permeability while maintaining high solute selectivity due to the presence of specialized membrane protein (MP) channels. However, successful integration of MPs into manufactured membranes has remained a significant challenge. Here, we demonstrate a two-hour organic solvent method to develop 2D crystals and nanosheets of highly packed pore-forming MPs in block copolymers (BCPs). We then integrate these hybrid materials into scalable MP-BCP biomimetic membranes. These MP-BCP nanosheet membranes maintain the molecular selectivity of the three types of β-barrel MP channels used, with pore sizes of 0.8 nm, 1.3 nm, and 1.5 nm. These biomimetic membranes demonstrate water permeability that is 20-1,000 times greater than that of commercial membranes and 1.5-45 times greater than that of the latest research membranes with comparable molecular exclusion ratings. This approach could provide high performance alternatives in the challenging sub-nanometre to few-nanometre size range.

Ultrasound-Guided Cytosolic Protein Delivery via Transient Fluorous Masks

The inability to spatiotemporally guide proteins in tissues and efficiently deliver them into cells remains a key barrier to realizing their full potential in precision medicine. Here, we report ultrasound-sensitive fluoro-protein nanoemulsions which can be acoustically tracked, guided, and activated for on-demand cytosolic delivery of proteins, including antibodies, using clinically relevant diagnostic ultrasound. This advance is accessed through the discovery of a family of fluorous tags, or FTags, that transiently mask proteins to mediate their efficient dispersion into ultrasound-sensitive liquid perfluorocarbons, a phenomenon akin to dissolving an egg in liquid Teflon. We identify the biochemical basis for protein fluorous masking and confirm FTag coatings are shed during delivery, without disrupting the protein structure or function. Harnessing the ultrasound sensitivity of fluorous emulsions, real-time imaging is used to simultaneously monitor and activate FTag-protein complexes to enable controlled cytosolic antibody delivery in vitro and in vivo. These findings may advance the development of image-guided, protein-based biosensing and therapeutic modalities.

Fluorinated peptide biomaterials

Fluorinated compounds, while rarely used by nature, are emerging as fundamental ingredients in biomedical research, with applications in drug discovery, metabolomics, biospectroscopy, and, as the focus of this review, peptide/protein engineering. Leveraging the fluorous effect to direct peptide assembly has evolved an entirely new class of organofluorine building blocks from which unique and bioactive materials can be constructed. Here, we discuss three distinct peptide fluorination strategies used to design and induce peptide assembly into nano-, micro-, and macrosupramolecular states that potentiate high-ordered organization into material scaffolds. These fluorine-tailored peptide assemblies employ the unique fluorous environment to boost biofunctionality for a broad range of applications, from drug delivery to antibacterial coatings. This review provides foundational tactics for peptide fluorination and discusses the utility of these fluorous-directed hierarchical structures as material platforms in diverse biomedical applications.

Ultrasound-Responsive Nanopeptisomes Enable Synchronous Spatial Imaging and Inhibition of Clot Growth in Deep Vein Thrombosis

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a life-threatening blood clotting condition that, if undetected, can cause deadly pulmonary embolisms. Critical to its clinical management is the ability to rapidly detect, monitor, and treat thrombosis. However, current diagnostic imaging modalities lack the resolution required to precisely localize vessel occlusions and enable clot monitoring in real time. Here, we rationally design fibrinogen-mimicking fluoropeptide nanoemulsions, or nanopeptisomes (NPeps), that allow contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging of thrombi and synchronous inhibition of clot growth. The theranostic duality of NPeps is imparted via their intrinsic binding to integrins overexpressed on platelets activated during coagulation. The platelet-bound nanoemulsions can be vaporized and oscillate in an applied acoustic field to enable contrast-enhanced Doppler ultrasound detection of thrombi. Concurrently, nanoemulsions bound to platelets competitively inhibit secondary platelet-fibrinogen binding to disrupt further clot growth. Continued development of this synchronous theranostic platform may open new opportunities for image-guided, non-invasive, interventions for DVT and other vascular diseases.

Tuning the Interfacial Properties of Fluorous Colloids Toward Ultrasound Programmable Bioactivity

Liquid-in-liquid emulsions are kinetically stable colloids that undergo liquid-to-gas phase transitions in response to thermal or acoustic stimuli. Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are preferred species as their highly fluorinated nature imparts unique properties that are unparalleled by nonfluorinated counterparts. However, traditional methods to prepare PFC emulsions lack the ability to precisely tune the thermodynamic stability of the fluorous-water interphase and consequently control their vaporization behavior. Here, we report a privileged fluoroalkanoic acid that undergoes concentration-dependent assembly on the surfaces of fluorous droplets to modulate interfacial tension. This allows for the rational formulation of orthogonal PFC droplets that can be programmed to vaporize at specified ultrasound powers. We exploit this behavior in two exemplary biomedical settings by developing emulsions that aid ultrasound-mediated hemostasis and enable bioorthogonal delivery of molecular sensors to mammalian cells. Mechanistic insights gained from these studies can be generalized to tune the thermodynamic interfacial equilibria of PFC emulsions toward designing controllable tools for precision medicine.

Discovery of antitumor lectins from rainforest tree root transcriptomes

Glycans are multi-branched sugars that are displayed from lipids and proteins. Through their diverse polysaccharide structures they can potentiate a myriad of cellular signaling pathways involved in development, growth, immuno-communication and survival. Not surprisingly, disruption of glycan synthesis is fundamental to various human diseases; including cancer, where aberrant glycosylation drives malignancy. Here, we report the discovery of a novel mannose-binding lectin, ML6, which selectively recognizes and binds to these irregular tumor-specific glycans to elicit potent and rapid cancer cell death. This lectin was engineered from gene models identified in a tropical rainforest tree root transcriptome and is unusual in its six canonical mannose binding domains (QxDxNxVxY), each with a unique amino acid sequence. Remarkably, ML6 displays antitumor activity that is >105 times more potent than standard chemotherapeutics, while being almost completely inactive towards non-transformed, healthy cells. This activity, in combination with results from glycan binding studies, suggests ML6 differentiates healthy and malignant cells by exploiting divergent glycosylation pathways that yield naïve and incomplete cell surface glycans in tumors. Thus, ML6 and other high-valence lectins may serve as novel biochemical tools to elucidate the glycomic signature of different human tumors and aid in the rational design of carbohydrate-directed therapies. Further, understanding how nature evolves proteins, like ML6, to combat the changing defenses of competing microorganisms may allow for fundamental advances in the way we approach combinatorial therapies to fight therapeutic resistance in cancer.

Deciphering the Mechanistic Basis for Perfluoroalkyl-Protein Interactions

Although rarely used in nature, fluorine has emerged as an important elemental ingredient in the design of proteins with altered folding, stability, oligomerization propensities, and bioactivity. Adding to the molecular modification toolbox, here we report the ability of privileged perfluorinated amphiphiles to noncovalently decorate proteins to alter their conformational plasticity and potentiate their dispersion into fluorous phases. Employing a complementary suite of biophysical, in-silico and in-vitro approaches, we establish structure-activity relationships defining these phenomena and investigate their impact on protein structural dynamics and intracellular trafficking. Notably, we show that the lead compound, perfluorononanoic acid, is 106 times more potent in inducing non-native protein secondary structure in select proteins than is the well-known helix inducer trifluoroethanol, and also significantly enhances the cellular uptake of complexed proteins. These findings could advance the rational design of fluorinated proteins, inform on potential modes of toxicity for perfluoroalkyl substances, and guide the development of fluorine-modified biologics with desirable functional properties for drug discovery and delivery applications.