Genetic Researchers Score A Bargain: Free Delivery Of DNA

A researcher at the University of Pittsburgh has found a way to deliver virtually any amount of DNA for treatment of any disease, without using viruses as a delivery vehicle. "Viruses are very expensive to make," says Frank Sorgi, Ph.D., the Pittsburgh scientist who developed the new technique. "And administering viruses to people can have a lot of negative side effects. Each time you create a new virus you have to go through FDA approval all over again from scratch. With our technique, the process is virtually the same, regardless of the DNA or the disease — so getting regulatory approval is much faster."

Not only is Sorgi's "DNA delivery system" inexpensive for researchers, it's free. The keys are a Microfluidizer® processor and a lipid.

Sorgi uses liposomes — tiny sacks made of lipids — to carry the DNA piggyback style into the cell. Lipids are organic compounds (e.g., fats, oils, waxes, sterols, and triglycerides) that are insoluble in water but soluble in common organic solvents, are oily to the touch, and together with carbohydrates and proteins constitute the principal structural material of living cells. Since lipids dissolve inside cells, but not in a carrying medium, such as water, they make vesicles in which to carry other compounds, such as drugs, into the body.