Hao Song (PhD, Yu Group, AIBN) 

Title: Nanomedicine via Biomimetic Approach: a Story of Silica Nanopollens

Abstract: Nature creations with spiky topological features typically exhibit intriguing surface properties. From micrometre-sized pollen grains that can easily stick to hairy insects for pollination to nanoscale virus particles that are highly infectious towards host cells, multivalent interactions are formed taking advantages of rough surfaces. Herein, this nature-inspired concept is employed to develop novel drug delivery nano-carriers for biomedical applications. A facile new approach is developed to fabricate silica nano-pollens (mesoporous silica nanospheres with rough surfaces), which show enhanced adhesion towards bacteria surface comparing to their counterparts with smooth surfaces. Lysozyme, a natural antimicrobial enzyme, is loaded into silica nano-pollens, showing sustained release behaviour, potent antimicrobial activity and long-term total bacterial inhibition up to 3 days towards Escherichia coli. The potent antibacterial activity of lysozyme loaded silica nano-pollens is further demonstrated ex vivo by using a small intestine infection model. Our strategy provides a novel pathway in the rational design of nano-carriers for efficient drug delivery.