The Preparation Of Nano-graphene Oxide And The Application In Gene Delivery And Stem Cell Differentiation

The unique structure and physical/chemical properties of graphene (G) or grapheneoxide (GO) have motivated researchers to explore diversified biomedical applications.This thesis describes our efforts in the development of2D/3D GO-based substrates andtheir applications in substrate-mediated gene delivery and differentiation of stem cells.First, a facile approach was developed to fabricate patterned substrates ofnano-graphene oxide, demonstrating highly localized and efficient gene delivery tomultiple cell lines in a substrate mediated manner. The GO substrates served as a validplatform to pre-concentrate PEI/pDNA complexes and maintain their gradual releasingfor a relatively long period of time. Our approach allowed successfully gene deliveredin selected groups of cells on the stripe-patterned GO substrates, without transfectingtheir neighbour cells directly cultured on glass and enabled effective gene transfectionfor various cell lines including stem cells. Second, we developed a new approach toprepare the biomineralized substrates containing3-dimentional grapheme scaffold forhuman MSC differentiation. The preliminary results suggesteded that the3-D scaffoldcan facilitate the osteogenic differentiation of the hMSC, thus promising importantapplications in stem cell research and tissue engineering.