Fluorescent protein-based multi-functional nanoparticles for bioimaging and drug delivery

Nanoparticles provide ideal platforms for drug delivery. Together with drugs, various probes, such fluorescent probes, could be incorporated in that platform for bioimaging or in situ tracking of the drugs. One important issue for the drug delivery nano-systems is the safety of the nanomaterials, including the incorporated probes. We found that nano-encapsulated fluorescent proteins could serve as an ideal safe and robust fluorescence probes for the in vivo bio-imaging, with whole body distribution and fast clearance from the body. Fluorescent proteins-encapsulated nanoparticles can deliver siRNA into cells and silence-targeted gene effectively, with some siRNA even being delivered into the cell nuclei (Figure 1).