All Outputs (39)

Enhanced localized pressure-mediated non-viral gene delivery (2025)
Journal Article
Dixon, J. E., Wellington, V., Elnima, A., Savers, A., Blokpoel Ferreras, L. A., Jalal, A. R., & Eltaher, H. M. (2025). Enhanced localized pressure-mediated non-viral gene delivery. Drug Delivery and Translational Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-025-01827-7

Topically applied therapies must not only be effective at the molecular level but also efficiently access the target site which can be on milli/centimetre-scales. This bottleneck is particularly inhibitory for peptide and nucleic acid macromolecule d... Read More about Enhanced localized pressure-mediated non-viral gene delivery.

Programming of pluripotency and the germ line co-evolved from a Nanog ancestor (2025)
Journal Article
Crowley, D., Simpson, L., Chatfield, J., Forey, T., Allegrucci, C., Sang, F., Holmes, N., Genikhovich, G., Technau, U., Cunningham, D., Silva, E., Mullin, N., Dixon, J. E., Loose, M., Alberio, R., & Johnson, A. D. (2025). Programming of pluripotency and the germ line co-evolved from a Nanog ancestor. Cell Reports, 44(3), Article 115396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115396

Francois Jacob proposed that evolutionary novelty arises through incremental tinkering with pre-existing genetic mechanisms. Vertebrate evolution was predicated on pluripotency, the ability of embryonic cells to form somatic germ layers and primordia... Read More about Programming of pluripotency and the germ line co-evolved from a Nanog ancestor.

Development of a VEGF-activated scaffold with enhanced angiogenic and neurogenic properties for chronic wound healing applications (2025)
Journal Article
Palomeque Chávez, J. C., McGrath, M., O'Connor, C., Dervan, A., Dixon, J. E., Kearney, C. J., Browne, S., & O'Brien, F. J. (2025). Development of a VEGF-activated scaffold with enhanced angiogenic and neurogenic properties for chronic wound healing applications. Biomaterials Science, 13(8), 1993-2011. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4bm01051e

Chronic wounds remain in a state of disrupted healing, impeding neurite outgrowth from injured nerves and poor development of new blood vessels by angiogenesis. Current therapeutic approaches primarily focus on the restoration of vascularization and... Read More about Development of a VEGF-activated scaffold with enhanced angiogenic and neurogenic properties for chronic wound healing applications.

In vitro and ex vivo screening of microRNA combinations with enhanced cell penetrating peptides to stimulate intervertebral disc regeneration (2024)
Journal Article
Ní Néill, T., Barcellona, M. N., Wilson, N., O'Brien, F. J., Dixon, J. E., Curtin, C. M., & Buckley, C. T. (2024). In vitro and ex vivo screening of microRNA combinations with enhanced cell penetrating peptides to stimulate intervertebral disc regeneration. JOR Spine, 7(4), Article e1366. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsp2.1366

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is predominantly caused by degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) and central nucleus pulposus (NP) region. Conservative treatments fail to restore disc function, motivating the exploration of nucleic acid thera... Read More about In vitro and ex vivo screening of microRNA combinations with enhanced cell penetrating peptides to stimulate intervertebral disc regeneration.

A miR-activated hydrogel for the delivery of a pro-chondrogenic microRNA-221 inhibitor as a minimally invasive therapeutic approach for articular cartilage repair (2024)
Journal Article
An, S., Intini, C., O'Shea, D., Dixon, J. E., Zheng, Y., & O'Brien, F. J. (2025). A miR-activated hydrogel for the delivery of a pro-chondrogenic microRNA-221 inhibitor as a minimally invasive therapeutic approach for articular cartilage repair. Materials Today Bio, 30, Article 101382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtbio.2024.101382

Articular cartilage has limited capacity for repair (or for regeneration) under pathological conditions, given its non-vascularized connective tissue structure and low cellular density. Our group has successfully developed an injectable hydrogel for... Read More about A miR-activated hydrogel for the delivery of a pro-chondrogenic microRNA-221 inhibitor as a minimally invasive therapeutic approach for articular cartilage repair.

A Modified Cell-Penetrating Peptide Enhances Insulin and Oxytocin Delivery across an RPMI 2650 Nasal Epithelial Cell Barrier In Vitro (2024)
Journal Article
Wong, S., Brown, A. D., Abrahams, A. B., Nurzak, A. N., Eltaher, H. M., Sykes, D. A., Veprintsev, D. B., Fone, K. C., Dixon, J. E., & King, M. V. (2024). A Modified Cell-Penetrating Peptide Enhances Insulin and Oxytocin Delivery across an RPMI 2650 Nasal Epithelial Cell Barrier In Vitro. Pharmaceutics, 16(10), Article 1267. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics16101267

Background/Objectives: Peptide-based treatments represent an expanding area and require innovative approaches to enhance bioavailability. Combination with cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) is an attractive strategy to improve non-invasive delivery acr... Read More about A Modified Cell-Penetrating Peptide Enhances Insulin and Oxytocin Delivery across an RPMI 2650 Nasal Epithelial Cell Barrier In Vitro.

Development of an 'off-the-shelf' gene therapeutic nanoparticle formulation for incorporation into biomaterials for regenerative medicine applications (2024)
Journal Article
O'Shea, D., Hodgkinson, T., Dixon, J., Curtin, C., & O'Brien, F. (2024). Development of an 'off-the-shelf' gene therapeutic nanoparticle formulation for incorporation into biomaterials for regenerative medicine applications. eCells and Materials Journal, 47, 152-169. https://doi.org/10.22203/ecm.v047a11

Traumatic musculoskeletal injuries require advanced therapeutic intervention to heal effectively. Regenerative medicine research has aimed to address this by using biomaterials to deliver gene therapeutic nanoparticles (NPs) to the injury site to dir... Read More about Development of an 'off-the-shelf' gene therapeutic nanoparticle formulation for incorporation into biomaterials for regenerative medicine applications.

Modulation of Inflammation and Regeneration in the Intervertebral Disc Using Enhanced Cell‐Penetrating Peptides for MicroRNA Delivery (2024)
Journal Article
Barcellona, M. N., Ní Néill, T., O’Brien, F. J., Dixon, J. E., Curtin, C. M., & Buckley, C. T. (2024). Modulation of Inflammation and Regeneration in the Intervertebral Disc Using Enhanced Cell‐Penetrating Peptides for MicroRNA Delivery. Advanced NanoBiomed Research, 4(7), Article 2300112. https://doi.org/10.1002/anbr.202300112

Back pain is a global epidemiological and socioeconomic problem affecting up to 80% of people at some stage during their life and is often due to degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD). Therapies aimed at restoring the intradiscal space have p... Read More about Modulation of Inflammation and Regeneration in the Intervertebral Disc Using Enhanced Cell‐Penetrating Peptides for MicroRNA Delivery.

Gene activated reinforced scaffolds for SOX9 delivery to enhance repair of large load bearing articular cartilage defects (2024)
Journal Article
Joyce, M., Hodgkinson, T., Intini, C., Dixon, J. E., Kelly, D. J., & O’Brien, F. J. (2024). Gene activated reinforced scaffolds for SOX9 delivery to enhance repair of large load bearing articular cartilage defects. eCells and Materials Journal, 47, 91-108. https://doi.org/10.22203/eCM.v047a07

Articular cartilage (AC) has a poor capacity to repair once damaged, with progressive degeneration often leading to osteoarthritis (OA). While biomaterials fabricated with extra cellular matrix (ECM) native to the AC have shown promise for repair of... Read More about Gene activated reinforced scaffolds for SOX9 delivery to enhance repair of large load bearing articular cartilage defects.

Combined biolistic and cell penetrating peptide delivery for the development of scalable intradermal DNA vaccines (2024)
Journal Article
So, R. B., Li, G., Brentville, V., Daly, J. M., & Dixon, J. E. (2024). Combined biolistic and cell penetrating peptide delivery for the development of scalable intradermal DNA vaccines. Journal of Controlled Release, 367, 209-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2024.01.031

Physical-based gene delivery via biolistic methods (such as the Helios gene gun) involve precipitation of nucleic acids onto microparticles and direct transfection through cell membranes of exposed tissue (e.g. skin) by high velocity acceleration. Th... Read More about Combined biolistic and cell penetrating peptide delivery for the development of scalable intradermal DNA vaccines.

Effects of Microenvironment and Dosing on Efficiency of Enhanced Cell Penetrating Peptide Nonviral Gene Delivery (2024)
Journal Article
Dixon, J. E., Wellington, V., Elnima, A., & Eltaher, H. M. (2024). Effects of Microenvironment and Dosing on Efficiency of Enhanced Cell Penetrating Peptide Nonviral Gene Delivery. ACS Omega, 9(4), 5014-5023. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c09306

Transfection, defined as functional delivery of cell-internalized nucleic acids, is dependent on many factors linked to formulation, vector, cell type, and microenvironmental culture conditions. We previously developed a technology termed glycosamino... Read More about Effects of Microenvironment and Dosing on Efficiency of Enhanced Cell Penetrating Peptide Nonviral Gene Delivery.

Orally-delivered insulin-peptide nanocomplexes enhance transcytosis from cellular depots and improve diabetic blood glucose control (2023)
Journal Article
Rehmani, S., McLaughlin, C. M., Eltaher, H. M., Moffett, R. C., Flatt, P. R., & Dixon, J. E. (2023). Orally-delivered insulin-peptide nanocomplexes enhance transcytosis from cellular depots and improve diabetic blood glucose control. Journal of Controlled Release, 360, 93-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.06.006

Insulin regulates blood glucose levels, and is the mainstay for the treatment of type-1 diabetes and type-2 when other drugs provide inadequate control. Therefore, effective oral Insulin delivery would be a significant advance in drug delivery. Herei... Read More about Orally-delivered insulin-peptide nanocomplexes enhance transcytosis from cellular depots and improve diabetic blood glucose control.

NANOG is required to establish the competence for germ-layer differentiation in the basal tetrapod axolotl (2023)
Journal Article
Simpson, L. A., Crowley, D., Forey, T., Acosta, H., Ferjentsik, Z., Chatfield, J., Payne, A., Simpson, B. S., Redwood, C., Dixon, J. E., Holmes, N., Sang, F., Alberio, R., Loose, M., & Johnson, A. D. (2023). NANOG is required to establish the competence for germ-layer differentiation in the basal tetrapod axolotl. PLoS Biology, 21(6), Article e3002121. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002121

Pluripotency defines the unlimited potential of individual cells of vertebrate embryos, from which all adult somatic cells and germ cells are derived. Understanding how the programming of pluripotency evolved has been obscured in part by a lack of da... Read More about NANOG is required to establish the competence for germ-layer differentiation in the basal tetrapod axolotl.

An Innovative miR‐activated Scaffold for the Delivery of a miR‐221 Inhibitor to Enhance Cartilage Defect Repair (2023)
Journal Article
Intini, C., Ferreras, L. B., Casey, S., Dixon, J. E., Gleeson, J. P., & O'Brien, F. J. (2023). An Innovative miR‐activated Scaffold for the Delivery of a miR‐221 Inhibitor to Enhance Cartilage Defect Repair. Advanced Therapeutics, 6(7), Article 2200329. https://doi.org/10.1002/adtp.202200329

The development of treatments to restore damaged cartilage that can provide functional recovery with minimal risk of revision surgery remains an unmet clinical need. Gene therapy shows increased promise as an innovative solution for enhanced tissue r... Read More about An Innovative miR‐activated Scaffold for the Delivery of a miR‐221 Inhibitor to Enhance Cartilage Defect Repair.

Direct contact-mediated non-viral gene therapy using thermo-sensitive hydrogel-coated dressings (2022)
Journal Article
Eltaher, H. M., Blokpoel Ferreras, L. A., Jalal, A. R., & Dixon, J. (2022). Direct contact-mediated non-viral gene therapy using thermo-sensitive hydrogel-coated dressings. Biomaterials Advances, 143, Article 213177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.213177

Nanotechnologies are being increasingly applied as systems for peptide and nucleic acid macromolecule drug delivery. However systemic targeting of these, or efficient topical and localized delivery remains an issue. A controlled release system that c... Read More about Direct contact-mediated non-viral gene therapy using thermo-sensitive hydrogel-coated dressings.

Development of a Gene-Activated Scaffold Incorporating Multifunctional Cell-Penetrating Peptides for pSDF-1α Delivery for Enhanced Angiogenesis in Tissue Engineering Applications (2022)
Journal Article
Power, R. N., Cavanagh, B. L., Dixon, J. E., Curtin, C. M., & O’Brien, F. J. (2022). Development of a Gene-Activated Scaffold Incorporating Multifunctional Cell-Penetrating Peptides for pSDF-1α Delivery for Enhanced Angiogenesis in Tissue Engineering Applications. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(3), Article 1460. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031460

Non-viral gene delivery has become a popular approach in tissue engineering, as it permits the transient delivery of a therapeutic gene, in order to stimulate tissue repair. However, the efficacy of non-viral delivery vectors remains an issue. Our la... Read More about Development of a Gene-Activated Scaffold Incorporating Multifunctional Cell-Penetrating Peptides for pSDF-1α Delivery for Enhanced Angiogenesis in Tissue Engineering Applications.

Transcriptome‐based screening of ion channels and transporters in a migratory chondroprogenitor cell line isolated from late‐stage osteoarthritic cartilage (2021)
Journal Article
Matta, C., Lewis, R., Fellows, C., Diszhazi, G., Almassy, J., Miosge, N., Dixon, J., Uribe, M. C., May, S., Poliska, S., Barrett‐Jolley, R., Fodor, J., Szentesi, P., Hajdú, T., Keller‐Pinter, A., Henslee, E., Labeed, F. H., Hughes, M. P., & Mobasheri, A. (2021). Transcriptome‐based screening of ion channels and transporters in a migratory chondroprogenitor cell line isolated from late‐stage osteoarthritic cartilage. Journal of Cellular Physiology, 236(11), 7421-7439. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcp.30413

Chondrogenic progenitor cells (CPCs) may be used as an alternative source of cells with potentially superior chondrogenic potential compared to mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and could be exploited for future regenerative therapies targeting articula... Read More about Transcriptome‐based screening of ion channels and transporters in a migratory chondroprogenitor cell line isolated from late‐stage osteoarthritic cartilage.

Rapidly Transducing and Spatially Localized Magnetofection Using Peptide-Mediated Non-Viral Gene Delivery Based on Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (2020)
Journal Article
Blokpoel Ferreras, L. A., Chan, S. Y., Vazquez Reina, S., & Dixon, J. E. (2021). Rapidly Transducing and Spatially Localized Magnetofection Using Peptide-Mediated Non-Viral Gene Delivery Based on Iron Oxide Nanoparticles. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 4(1), 167-181. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.0c02465

Non-viral delivery systems are generally of low efficiency, which limits their use in gene therapy and editing applications. We previously developed a technology termed glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-binding enhanced transduction (GET) to efficiently delive... Read More about Rapidly Transducing and Spatially Localized Magnetofection Using Peptide-Mediated Non-Viral Gene Delivery Based on Iron Oxide Nanoparticles.

Enhanced Cellular Transduction of Nanoparticles Resistant to Rapidly Forming Plasma Protein Coronas (2020)
Journal Article
Blokpoel Ferreras, L. A., Scott, D., Vazquez Reina, S., Roach, P., Torres, T. E., Goya, G. F., Shakesheff, K. M., & Dixon, J. E. (2020). Enhanced Cellular Transduction of Nanoparticles Resistant to Rapidly Forming Plasma Protein Coronas. Advanced Biosystems, 4(10), Article 2000162. https://doi.org/10.1002/adbi.202000162

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH Nanoparticles (NPs) are increasingly being developed as biomedical platforms for drug/nucleic acid delivery and imaging. However, in biological fluids, NPs interact with a wide range of proteins that fo... Read More about Enhanced Cellular Transduction of Nanoparticles Resistant to Rapidly Forming Plasma Protein Coronas.

Efficient Delivery of Transducing Polymer Nanoparticles for Gene-mediated Induction of Osteogenesis for Bone Regeneration (2020)
Journal Article
Jalal, A. R., & Dixon, J. E. (2020). Efficient Delivery of Transducing Polymer Nanoparticles for Gene-mediated Induction of Osteogenesis for Bone Regeneration. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 8, Article 849. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00849

Developing non-viral gene therapy vectors that both protect and functionally deliver nucleic acid cargoes will be vital if gene augmentation and editing strategies are to be effectively combined with advanced regenerative medicine approaches. Current... Read More about Efficient Delivery of Transducing Polymer Nanoparticles for Gene-mediated Induction of Osteogenesis for Bone Regeneration.