Localized MAGnetIC hyperthermia CELL-based GENE therapy for immune modulation - MagicCELLGene

Project summary

The goal of MagicCELLGene is to develop a novel, universal and highly efficient methodology for transfection triggered by magnetic hyperthermia, with potential clinical applications in cell-based gene therapy. Our innovative approach is to induce a controlled and localized heating of the cellular membrane (hotspots) using magnetic nanoparticles covalently immobilized onto cell membranes via bioorthogonal chemistry; the reversible changes of the cell membrane permeability/fluidity will be used to promote the artificial delivery of nucleic acids into cells. Efforts will be especially focused on hard-to-transfect cells (primary cells), thus clearly addressing an unmet need of the transfection market. Expected results going beyond the state-of-the-art in transfection are: i) the development of a universal transfection tool and ii) its application to systems where standard transfection methods have several bottlenecks using as a model immune system modulation.