Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Narrow Diameter - Ease of cell membrane penetration Readily Escapes - Endosomal capture Stablizes and Protects - Drug payload in the circulation Transport & Payload - Rapidly releases in cell ensuring gene target inhibition Large Surface Area - To attach large macromolecules as DNA & RNA or proteins

Carbon Nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family. Their name is derived from their long, hollow structure with the walls formed by one-atom-thick sheets of carbon, called graphene.  Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) have a diameter of close to 1 nanometer, with a tube length that can be many millions of times longer. The structure of a SWCNT can be conceptualized by wrapping a one-atom-thick layer of graphite called graphene into a seamless cylinder.
The development of new and efficient drug delivery systems is of fundamental importance to improve the pharmacological profiles of numerous classes of therapeutic molecules. Currently there are a plethora of drug delivery systems available which have been successful yet there are major drawbacks involved which are damage of healthy tissue. This is particularly true of cancer drugs. Nanotechnology harnesses current progress in chemistry, physics, materials science, and biotechnology to create novel materials that have unique properties because their structures are determined on the nanometer scale. Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes or "SWCNT" have been recognized as the quintessential nano-materials and have acquired the status of one of the most active fields of nano-science and nanotechnology. SWCNTS have potential therapeutic applications in the fields of drug delivery, diagnostics, biosensing and tissue engineering by acting as scaffolds. SWCNTS have been shown to be minimal toxicity and be efficacious in our in vivo studies. They can pass through membranes, carrying therapeutic drugs, vaccines, and nucleic acids deep into the cell to targets previously unreachable by conventional drug delivery systems.