Nanotechnology for the Delivery of Therapeutic Nucleic Acids

Dan Peer is an associate professor and head of the laboratory of NanoMedicine at Tel Aviv University. His research was one of the first to demonstrate the systemic delivery of RNAi using targeted nanocarriers to the immune system and the first to demonstrate the in vivo validation of new drug targets using RNAi in the immune system. Prof. Peer has authored and edited several books on biomaterials and nanomedicine. He is on the editorial board of several journals, including Nanotechnology, Journal of Controlled Release, Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, Biomedical Microdevices, and Cancer Letters.

Nucleic acid–based therapy would have revolutionized medicine many times if the problem of delivery had been solved, at least in small part. However, that is proving to be as challenging a problem as any in the sciences—and of the few with truly transformational implications for the health of all. Thus, I welcome with enthusiasm this book, edited by my good friend and extraordinarily distinguished colleague Dan Peer. The topics featured in the various chapters offer a very sound review of the major problem areas, and some of the most promising strategies for addressing them."—Dr. Mauro Ferrari, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, USA"This excellent book comes at a critical time to the field of delivery of therapeutic nucleic acids. I wish I had a book with a similar approach and design in the field of drug delivery when we started to develop Doxil®. I intend to use this book to cover nucleic acid delivery in my graduate course on drug delivery systems."—Dr. Yechezkel (Chezy) Barenholz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel"This timely and nicely arranged book represents an excellent collection of cutting-edge studies and approaches for the delivery of nucleic acid–based therapeutics, including siRNA. The editor has built a volume in which leading scientists cover the broad variety of nucleic acid delivery platforms, such as lipid- and polymer-based systems, aptamers, and chemical conjugates, as well as biological properties of these systems."—Prof. Vladimir Torchilin, Northeastern University, USA

• Lipoplexes and Polyplexes: From Gene Delivery to Gene Expression. Cationic Polymers for the Delivery of Therapeutic Nucleotides. Membrane/Core Nanoparticles for Delivery of Therapeutic Nucleic Acid. Delivery of Single siRNA Molecules. Cell-Specific Aptamer-Functionalized RNAi: A New Prospect for Targeted siRNA Delivery. Bioresponsive Nanoparticles for the Intracellular Delivery of RNAi Therapeutics. Lipid-Like Delivery Materials for Efficient siRNA Delivery. Manipulation of Leukocytes Using Therapeutic RNAi Delivered by Targeted and Stabilized Nanoparticles. Lowering the siRNA Delivery Barrier: Alginate Scaffolds and Immune Stimulation.