[March 5. 2019] Prof. Michael J. Sailor/Treatment of S. aureus Bacterial Infections with Porous Silicon Nanoparticles

Treatment of S. aureus Bacterial

Infections with Porous Silicon

Nanoparticles

 The use of porous silicon nanoparticles for peptide-targeted delivery of therapeutic payloads and for luminescence imaging will be described. One area where there is clearly an unmet therapeutic need is in the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, and the deployment of porous silicon nanoparticles to meet this challenge will be described. Porous Si nanoparticles can be simultaneously loaded and sealed using aqueous solutions of the desired therapeutic (siRNA or small molecule antibiotics will be used as examples) in the presence of calcium or magnesium ions. The resulting nanostructures consist of drug loaded into the mesopores of the nanoparticle and sealed with biodegradable calcium or magnesium silicate. Attachment of functional peptides imparts targeting and cell penetration properties to the constructs that show improved gene silencing and therapeutic outcomes in vivo . The intrinsic photoluminescence that derives from quantum confinement in the silicon skeleton provides a built-in luminescent probe that can be used for in vivo and in vitro imaging and self-reporting drug delivery in these systems.