Amy Mantz

University of Nebraska at Lincoln | NU · Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Nonviral gene delivery modifies gene expression by transferring exogenous genetic material into cells and tissues, typically through a bolus of complexes formed by electrostatic interactions between cationic lipid or polymer vectors with negatively charged nucleic acids (e.g. DNA). Although nonviral gene delivery is safer, more cost-effective, and...

Substrate mediated gene delivery (SMD) is a method of immobilizing DNA complexes to a substrate via covalent attachment or nonspecific adsorption, which allows for increased transgene expression with less DNA compared to traditional bolus delivery. It may also increase cells receptivity to transfection via cell-material interactions. Substrate modi...

Zeta potential and sizing of bPEI-DNA complexes with varied N/P ratios. bPEI-DNA complexes were formed with 2 μg of DNA at N/P of 3, 5, 10, or 20, and the zeta potential (A) and size (B) of the complexes were determined by dynamic light scattering and Laser Doppler micro-electrophoresis, respectively, at room temperature. Statistical differences be...

Viability quantification of NIH/3T3 fibroblasts cultured on PAA brushes with filtered bPEI-DNA complexes. The measurement of the viability of NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblasts was acquired using water soluble tetrazolium (WST-1) with cells cultured on PAA brushes with filtered bPEI-DNA complexes immobilized to the substrate, 48 h following cell seeding. WS...

Impact statement: This review summarizes how biomaterial substrate modifications (e.g. chemical modifications like natural coatings, ligands, or functional side groups, and/or physical modifications such as topography or stiffness) can prime the cellular response to nonviral gene delivery (e.g. affecting integrin binding and focal adhesion formati...

The grafting of polymer brushes to substrates is a promising method to modify surface properties such as wettability and the affinity toward proteins and cells for applications in microelectronics, biomedical devices and sensors. Poly(acrylic) acid (PAA) brushes are of high interest because of their stimuli-responsive behavior and the presence of c...

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are a multipotent cell, meaning they are able to differentiate into a more mature cell type, such as osteocytes, chondrocytes, and adipocytes, that are found in numerous tissues in the human body, such as bone marrow, fat, and muscle. Since hMSCs can be derived from adult human tiss...

It has been shown that chemicals and hormones play a role in the linear growth of growth plate chondrocytes (van der Eerden et al., 2003), but studies of linear regulated growth of chondrocytes in vitro have not been found. There have been studies with chondrocytes embedded in alginate hydrogel beads (De Ceuninck et al., 2004) as well as porcine em...