24 September 2009

Safe, efficient and site-specific delivery of drugs or genes is one step closer thanks to a $75,000 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award for Dr Zhi Ping (Gordon) Xu.

Working at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), Dr Xu’s research spans the boundaries of chemistry and biology, by combining novel nanomaterials with biomolecules to enable gene and drug delivery.

Dr Xu said nanocoating layered double hydroxide nanoparticles with a porous silica and conjugating this with biomolecules would enable delivery of large amounts of therapeutics to specific disease sites.

“Drug delivery has increasingly become an interdisciplinary field courier with global market for advanced drug delivery systems amounting to approximately US$134 billion in 2008,” Dr Xu said.

“Delivering drugs or genes requires the nanoparticle to evade the body’s immune defences, recognise and attach to the specific cell, cross the cell membrane, and localise to the subcellular site of action or migrate to perinuclear area for further entrance into the nucleus.”

According to Dr Xu, the key to this project is the unique properties of the hybrid nanoparticles. The layered double hydroxide (LDH) is able to carry large amounts of therapeutic agent, while the coated porous silica can be readily modified for targeted delivery of the therapeutic payload to specific cells in the body.

“To be an effective delivery system, the nanoparticle must be a suitable carrier and readily transported through various biological barriers to the site of action,” he said.

“By functionalising the porous silica coating and binding targeting biomolecules such as antibodies, folic acid or peptides, we hope to deliver therapeutics specifically to the disease site.”

Dr Xu is an acknowledged leader in the synthesis, characterisation and application of LDH nanomaterials and his skills are further supplemented by the animal model and in vitro expertise of AIBN’s Professor Julie Campbell and Queensland Brain Institute’s Dr Nyoman Kurniawan.

Media: contact Dr Zhi Ping Xu (07 3346 3809) or Russell Griggs at the AIBN (07 3346 3989).