“Got a bacterial infection? Take an antibiotic, let’s hope it works.” That’s too often what patients hear these days at their doctor’s office, but nanotechnology promises to change all that. Researchers at National University of Singapore have reported in journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces the development of nano scale pyramids made out of strands of DNA that were able to penetrate bacterial cells and deliver a deadly payload.
The DNA strands that made up the pyramidal nanoscaffold had the antibiotic Actinomycin D embedded within their hollow chambers and fluorescent gold nanoparticles were attached to the DNA in order to follow the pyramids entering bacterial cells. In lab tests on E. coli and Staph aureus, the researchers found that the bacteria were happy to absorb the nanopyramids and succumbed to the antibiotic. The hope is that this technology can help both improve the targeting and killing of bacteria, leading to fewer side effects while speeding up treatment.
Study in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces: Novel Theranostic DNA Nanoscaffolds for the Simultaneous Detection and Killing of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus…
Announcement: Tiny DNA pyramids enter bacteria easily—and deliver a deadly payload…
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