Emerging biomedical applications of nucleic acid nanotechnologies

About the Article Collection

The diverse biological functions and tunable chemical, structural and mechanical properties of nucleic acids make these biopolymers highly versatile building blocks for the design of nanomaterials with a wide range of biomedical applications. Researchers across multiple disciplines are interested in leveraging these properties in the design and synthesis of nucleic acid technologies for advanced therapies, including controlled drug delivery, conditional activation of therapeutics, improved diagnostics and disease monitoring.

This Article Collection aims to showcase cutting-edge research and opinion on emerging approaches to nucleic acid nanotechnology design and synthesis, and its applications in human medicine and health. We also aim to feature discussion on challenges to the widespread adoption of nucleic acid nanotechnology in the future, such as safety, regulatory and scale-up concerns.

The collection will be of interest to engineers, academic researchers, clinicians, and other professionals working in the fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and translational medicine.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

Kirill Afonin

Kirill Afonin is a Professor at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He earned his M.S. in Chemistry from Saint Petersburg State University, followed by a Ph.D. in Photochemistry from Bowling Green State University. He also obtained a Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics, Proteomics/Genomics. Prof. Afonin subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of California Santa Barbara. In 2011, he joined the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health as a Research Fellow, where he established and managed an experimental branch within the Computational RNA Structure Group. In 2015, Prof. Afonin began his tenure-track appointment at UNC Charlotte. He was promoted to Associate Professor with permanent tenure in 2019 and to Full Professor in 2021. He currently serves as a founding council member and Vice President of the International Society of RNA Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine. Among his honors and recognitions, Prof. Afonin is a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors, a recipient of two NIH Fellows Awards for Research Excellence (FARE), and the recipient of a prestigious NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA R35), as well as two NIH R01 grants.