Theresa M. Reineke, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science, and colleagues in her lab at Virginia Tech and at the University of Cincinnati have developed a new molecule that can travel into cells, deliver genetic cargo, and packs a beacon so scientists can follow its movements in living systems.
"My lab has been trying to find a way to deliver genetic-based drugs into cells." said Reineke.
Scientists worldwide are using information from the human genome project as an approach to treat disease. Reineke's focus is cancer and cardiovascular disease. "Traditional drugs are aimed at treating disease at the protein level," she said. "Genetic drugs - such as those that can alter or control gene expression - aim to treat disease at the genetic level and have the added benefit of being more specific for their medicinal target." An example would be a genetic message that would arrest tumor growth.
A challenge has been that DNA and RNA drugs - pieces of genetic code that store information and instructions - cannot diffuse through the cell the way traditional small molecule drugs can. "We needed a vehicle to carry them into cells," said Reineke. One such vehicle has been engineered viruses. Reineke's group has been working on a more elegant solution. Their discovery is the topic of the PNAS article.