The research activity of our team focuses on the development of novel vectors based on carbon nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes and adamantane) for biomedical applications. The covalent or non covalent immobilization of biologically active molecules on the external surface of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has permitted to engineer biomolecular complexes and novel conjugates that we have exploited for different applications including drug delivery, gene transfer and RNA silencing. For this purpose, we have functionalized the external surface and the terminal parts of the CNTs using the cycloaddition and amidation reactions, generating highly dispersible nanotubes. We have thoroughly studied the toxicity effects of functionalized CNTs and analyzed the mechanisms of cell penetration, the organ biodistribution and the routes of elimination following in vivo administration. We have then exploited the positive charges of ammonium functionalized CNTs for the formation of complexes with short interference RNA (siRNA) discovering that these conjugates have a great potential for in vivo gene silencing. We have also explored the multifunctionalization of CNTs to link different types of molecules. We have created a system not only capable of delivering a therapeutic agent (i.e. amphotericin B, methotrexate, and doxorubicin) but that can be tracked because fluorescent and that is capable to tackle the desired organ or tissue because modified with a targeting ligand. Overall, the obtained results support the development of functionalized CNTs as an emergent new class of carriers in drug discovery and delivery. Very recently we started to develop a new system based on muntifunctionalized dendritic structures based on adamantane for therapeutic, imaging and diagnostic applications in nanomedicine.
Figure. Molecular model of a carbon nanotube functionalised with peptides in helical conformation.
Research Themes
Carbon nanotubes
Chemical approaches to multi-functionalized carbon nanotubes
Interaction of functionalized carbon nanotubes with nucleic acids towards the development of siRNA silencing vectors
Functionalized carbon nanotubes for the delivery of therapeutic molecules
Development on functionalized carbon nanotubes for applications in biocatalysis
Adamantane-based multifunctionalized dendrimers
