SPring-8, the large synchrotron radiation facility

Date&Time: 16:00 - 17:00, 27 August 2004

Speaker: Prof. Gayle E. Woloschak
Affiliation: Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology

Abstract
　　In order to develop TiO₂-biopolymer nanocomposites as new vehicles for biotechnology-inducible gene specific endonucleases, we need to establish that oligonucleotides attached to TiO₂ nanoparticle show sequence specificity with regard to targeting different cellular locations. Inside cells, DNA can be found both in the nucleus and in mitochondria. Previously, TiO₂-nanocomposites targeted for the nucleus had been demonstrated [1, 2]. We used nanocomposites with oligonucleotides matching the mitochondrial genome of the rat [5' carboxy dTccactttccacacag (MIT1s-TiO₂) present in mitochondria of rat pheochromocytoma cell line PC12]. Because TiO₂ has an inducible charge-separation that occurs following exposure to electromagnetic radiation of energies greater than 3.2eV, novel properties of the combined organic (DNA) and inorganic (TiO₂) of these nanoparticles can be exploited.