Journal article

Characterization of Key Bio-Nano Interactions between Organosilica Nanoparticles and Candida albicans

V Kesarwani, HG Kelly, M Shankar, KJ Robinson, SJ Kent, A Traven, SR Corrie

ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces | AMER CHEMICAL SOC | Published : 2019

Abstract

Nanoparticle-cell interactions between silica nanomaterials and mammalian cells have been investigated extensively in the context of drug delivery, diagnostics, and imaging. While there are also opportunities for applications in infectious disease, the interactions of silica nanoparticles with pathogenic microbes are relatively underexplored. To bridge this knowledge gap, here, we investigate the effects of organosilica nanoparticles of different sizes, concentrations, and surface coatings on surface association and viability of the major human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. We show that uncoated and PEGylated organosilica nanoparticles associate with C. albicans in a size and concentrati..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the facilities and scientific and technical assistance of Monash Ramacciotti Centre for Cryo Electron Microscopy (Dr. Simon Crawford and Dr. Georg Ramm) and Monash Centre of Electron Microscopy and Monash X-ray platform (Dr. Thomas Gengenbach). We thank Barbara Koch for critical discussions on early experimental design and Michaela Lackner (Medical University of Innsbruck) for providing the C. albicans glucan synthase mutant strain (RR<INF>MHO2</INF>) used in this study. The Traven Lab is supported by funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Corrie Lab is supported by the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence in BioNano Science (CE140100036) and Monash University's Interdisciplinary Research Fund. We also acknowledge funding from the Monash Engineering Seed Fund.