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Pepe, Jason

Physics

2003

M.S.

There has been a recent increase in bio-medical applications of ultrasound. One area of research interest involves sonoporation - a process by which acoustic cavitation causes transitory cellular membrane damage, temporarily increasing the membrane's permeability. Ultrasound can be used to excite encapsulated microbubbles, creating this acoustic cavitation effect that enables cells to uptake foreign material (drugs, DNA, etc.). Currently, there is a need to develop a safe, efficient technique to transfect cells for the purpose of gene therapy. Viral transfection techniques have yielded high efficiencies but are difficult to control and often elicit an immune response that can be dangerous for the host. Sonoporation is emerging as an important non-viral transfection technique.
My research involves various methods intended to increase the efficiency of cell transfection by sonoporation. The use of ultrasound as a means for cell transfection presents some advantages over currently used non-viral methods such as electroporation. Sonoporation has potential to be a non-invasive in-vivo technique with relatively few side effects. Preliminary research has shown that sonoporation can achieve significant transfection efficiencies while maintaining high rate of cell viability. I have been able to adjust various experimental parameters to increase transfection efficiency for both primary and non-primary cells and have made a direct comparison between sonoporation and electroporation.