Final Report Summary - NANOTRIGGER (Triggerable nanomaterials to modulate cell activity)
The advent of molecular reprogramming and the associated opportunities for personalised and therapeutic medicine requires the development of novel systems for on-demand delivery of biomolecules into cells in order to modulate their activity. Such triggerable systems should allow precise control of the timing, duration, magnitude and spatial release of cell modulator factors. Furthermore, the system should allow this control even in vivo, using non-invasive means. Nanoparticles (NPs) are very promising for the intracellular delivery of cell modulator factors. They offer several advantages over the viral vectors including high biomolecule carrying capacity, low risk of immunogenicity, low cost and ease of production. Nanotrigger project has developed biocompatible triggerable nanomaterials able to release efficiently biomolecules (e.g. proteins and non-coding RNAs) on demand. We have tested the potential of this technology in the in vivo modulation of stem cell niches, specifically, hematopoietic niche and neural stem cell niche at the subventricular zone.