Quantifying Quinine Monomer DNA Interactions for Use in Polymer Gene Delivery
Current gene therapies utilize virus vectors for treatment of disease, but they are expensive and have a limited shelf life. Polymer mediated gene therapies are a suitable alternative because they address these issues. Our group has previously used Raman spectroscopy to investigate quinine-based polymers to further understand the transfection mechanism of DNA. My project is investigating how quinine-based monomers intercalate with DNA to elucidate the effect different monomers will have on the transfection efficiency. Raman spectroscopy can monitor the local environment changes that occur when the polymer interacts with the DNA. We monitor the quinoline ring vibrational mode and its shift as a function of DNA concentration, for different quinine-based monomers. By comparing the trend of frequency shifts for each monomer with their respective transfection efficiency, we can understand the effect quinine-DNA interactions have on the overall efficiency of polymer gene delivery. These results will be used to further the development of new and efficient quinine-based polymers for gene delivery.