Damian Beasock

University of North Carolina at Charlotte | UNC Charlotte · Department of Chemistry

Primary injury of the spinal cord is caused by a mechanical traumatic event which is rapidly followed by a secondary injury cascade that may evolve for several months leading to biological and functional changes. During the secondary injury, many pathophysiological pathways and process are activated including inflammation, oxidative stress, demyeli...

Nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) play crucial roles in all living organisms and find wide utility in clinical settings. The convergence of rationally designed nucleic acid multistranded assemblies with embedded therapeutic properties has led to the development of a platform based on nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs). NANPs incorporate various functiona...

DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs) are a unique class of bioinorganic nanomaterials. The optical properties and biological activities of DNA-AgNCs are readily modulated by the minor adjustments in the sequence or structure of the templating oligonucleotide. Excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy (EEMS) enables the fluorescence of compou...

Here, a novel method of structural determination for DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs) is introduced. This technique uses energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) coupled with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to analyze a monodisperse solution of nucleic acid-based structures. Exploiting the consistent number of phosphate atoms in each...

Silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) are the next-generation nanomaterials representing supra-atomic structures where silver atoms are organized in a particular geometry. DNA can effectively template and stabilize these novel fluorescent AgNCs. Only a few atoms in size - the properties of nanoclusters can be tuned using only single nucleobase replacement of...

The intrinsic properties of RNA and DNA biopolymers emphasized by engineered nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs) offer accelerated development of next-generation therapies. The rational design of NANPs facilitates programmable architectures intended for regulated molecular and cellular interactions. The conventional bottom-up assembly of NANPs relie...

The inflammatory process often modifies the natural history of cancers. There is broad evidence that chronic inflammatory responses, associated with, e.g., persistent viral or bacterial infections, promote carcinogenesis. Cancer treatment is also associated with an inflammatory process that may either induce an antitumor immune response or, convers...

The immune system has evolved to defend organisms against exogenous threats such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites by distinguishing between “self” and “non-self”. In addition, it guards us against other diseases, such as cancer, by detecting and responding to transformed and senescent cells. However, for survival and propagation, the alte...

The International Society of RNA Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine (ISRNN) serves to further the development of a wide variety of functional nucleic acids and other related nanotechnology platforms. To aid in the dissemination of the most recent advancements, a biennial discussion focused on biomotors, viral assembly, and RNA nanobiotechnology has be...

Background: Cold-chain storage can be challenging and expensive for the transportation and storage of biologics, especially in low-resource settings. Nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs) are an example of new biological products that require refrigerated storage. Light-assisted drying (LAD) is a new processing technique to prepare biologics for anhyd...

Different therapeutic nucleic acids (TNAs) can be unified in a single structure by their elongation with short oligonucleotides designed to self‐assemble into nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs). With this approach, therapeutic cocktails with precisely controlled composition and stoichiometry of active ingredients can be delivered to the same diseas...

Recent advances in nanotechnology now allow for the methodical implementation of therapeutic nucleic acids (TNAs) into modular nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs) with tunable physicochemical properties which can match the desired biological effects, provide uniformity, and regulate the delivery of multiple TNAs for combinatorial therapy. Despite th...

Poly(ethylene glycol) or PEG has a long history of use in medicine. Many conventional formulations utilize PEG as either an active ingredient or an excipient. PEG found its use in biotechnology therapeutics as a tool to slow down drug clearance and shield protein therapeutics from undesirable immunogenicity. Nanotechnology field applies PEG to crea...

Silver has a long history of antibacterial effectiveness. The combination of atomically precise metal nanoclusters with the field of nucleic acid nanotechnology has given rise to DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs) which can be engineered with reproducible and unique fluorescent properties and antibacterial activity. Furthermore, cytosine...

Organic-inorganic hybrids may offer unique material properties not available from their components. However, they are typically less stable and disordered. Hybrid perovskites are the best examples. Long-term stability study of the hybrid materials, over the anticipated lifespan of a real device, is practically nonexistent. A family of highly ordere...