Project Description

Many diseases have genetic components that cannot be treated with traditional small‐molecule drugs. However, the symptoms of genetic diseases could be effectively treated by adding or silencing specific genes inside of cells. This is accomplished by delivering specific sequences of DNA or RNA to cells by way of a "gene delivery vehicle", such as cationic lipid‐nucleic acid complexes. These complexes are made by mixing DNA and special lipids in water, where the lipids encapsulate the DNA and prepare it for delivery to cells. We have performed two different experiments to measure the efficiency of synthetic gene delivery vehicles in cells, in addition to a protein assays on cell samples to determine the effectiveness of different variation of lipid‐DNA complexes. Results have been monitored using fluorescent images of fixed cells in order to visualize the uptake of DNA.