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Mizuo MAEDA
Co-Core Researcher

DNA-functionalized nanoparticles for reliable gene sensing

We have prepared DNA nanoparticles with a nanometer-sized vinyl polymer core or a colloidal gold core surrounded by a single-stranded DNA corona. The DNA nanoparticles disperse completely in an aqueous medium. Interestingly, when complementary single-stranded DNA, whose base number is identical to that of the DNA on the surface, is added to the dispersion of DNA nanoparticles to form the fully matched double helix on the surface, the DNA nanoparticles become unstable and spontaneously form aggregates in a non-crosslinking manner. Furthermore, we found that the double-stranded DNA-carrying nanoparticles acquire high colloidal stability when a terminal single-base mismatch exists at the interface between the DNA corona and the disperse medium. Exploiting the unique colloidal behavior of the DNA nanoparticles, we are devising a facile single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping method as well as a miRNA detection system. We are applying the SPR imaging technique on our original, power-free microfluidic devices to the detection of the nanoparticles aggregation with high sensitivity in a reliable manner.