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News

March 07, 2023

Congratulations to Dr. Afonin for being awarded the prestigious award, First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal at the Spring faculty awards ceremony!

This medal and award recognize Dr. Afonin's commitment to research excellence which is evident by his commitment to UNC Charlotte and his team! 

(Click here to read the article!)

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2021

January 30, 2023

 

Congratulations to Dr. Chandler, Yelixza, Sandra, and Dr. Afonin! Their most recent collaborative manuscript was published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics: X. 

(Click here to read it!)

January 24, 202

Congratulations to Dr. P, Elizabeth, Damian, and Dr. Afonin for having their review on 

Therapeutic immunomodulation by rationally designed nucleic acids and nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs) in Frontiers!

(Click here to read it!)

January 2023

The lab traveled to Ventura, CA, to attend and present their research at the Gordon Research Conference on RNA Nanotechnology! 

Congrats to everyone! They all did a great job presenting their work and representing the lab. 

We are looking forward to all of our future collaborations and staying in contact with all of our new connections.

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November 11, 2022 

Congratulations to Alex, Damian, and Dr. Afonin for their most recent publication in the Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal!

(Click here to read it!)

November 05, 2022

Our chapter in the Handbook of Chemical Biology of Nucleic Acids was just published! Great work to Leyla, Dr. Chandler, and Dr. Afonin! 

(Click here to read it!) 

October 09, 2022 

A big congratulations to Dr. Chandler, Dr. Halman, Dr. Afonin, and our collaborators! Our article was published in Small, detailing the production of a new useful tool - AI Cell.

Link to tool

"Artificial Immune Cell, AI-cell, a New Tool to Predict Interferon Production by Peripheral Blood Monocytes in Response to Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles (NANPs)" 

 Click here to read it!

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October 03, 2022 

 

Congratulations to Dr. Chandler and Dr. Afonin for their recent publication with their collaborative effort that was published in Advanced Functional Materials, "Adaptation-Proof SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Design"

(Click here to read it!)

Update: Our work was highlighted on medicalxpress.com! 

(Click here to read the article)

September 06, 2022 

Congratulations to Allison, Damian, Dr. Chandler and Dr. Afonin! Our collaborative work has been published in Biopreservation and Biobanking!

"The Application of Light-Assisted Drying to the Thermal Stabilization of Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles"

Click here to read it!

August 12, 2022 

Congratulations to Dr. Chandler, Alex, Yelixza, Damian, Leyla, Lizzie, and Dr. Afonin! Our big collaborative project has been published in Advanced Functional Materials!

"Expanding Structural Space for Immunomodulatory Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles (NANPs) via Spatial Arrangement of Their Therapeutic Moieties"

(Click here to read it!)

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July 05, 2022 

Congratulations to Dr. Ke, Dr. Chandler, Alex, Rosalie, and Melina! Our big story is finally out and published in Nano Letters!

"Locking and Unlocking Thrombin Function Using Immunoquiescent Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles with Regulated Retention In Vivo"

Click here to read it!

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Update:

Our publication has been featured in multiple news outlets

Click here to follow along LINK

June 2022 

 

Our book on RNA Nanotechnology and Therapeutics is finally out! Thank you and congratulations to all the contributors from our lab:

Alex, Damian, Oleg, Dr. Striplin, Dr. Halman, Dr. Chandler, Dr. Ke, Dr. Panigaj 

(Click here to find it on Amazon!)

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June 22, 2022
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Congratulations to Dr. Afonin and our collaborator, Dr. Vivero-Escoto (UNCC), for their most recently funded NIH grant!

"Multimodal hybrid nanoparticles for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer"

June 22, 2022 

Congratulations to Dr. Afonin and our collaborator, Dr. Vivero-Escoto (UNCC) for their most recently funded NIH grant!

 

"Multimodal hybrid nanoparticles for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer"

June 14, 2022 

Congratulations to Dr. Afonin and our collaborators, Drs. Krasnoslobotsev (UNO) and Yingling (NCSU) for their most recently funded grant from the National Science Foundation!

 

"Collaborative Research: Exploring self-organization of functional nucleic acid

supramolecular assemblies with stimuli-responsive properties"

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April 19, 2022 

Congratulations to Dr. Afonin and our collaborators, Drs. Wanunu and Aksimentiev for their most recently funded NIH grant, the R21!

 "Multiplexed electronic counting of scarce protein targets using nucleic acid nanoparticles"

We are very excited about this work and the applications that can stem from it! 

April 2022 

Excited and honored to share that the NCI chose, for its FY23 congressional justification report, an image of our NANPs (in green) that were developed and produced by our lab and visualized at the NCL. 

Read about it here on the Charlotte Exchange as a feature 

or

Read about it here on the Inside UNC Charlotte Website 

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February 10, 2022

Our paper in Small entitled, "Anhydrous Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles for Storage and Handling at Broad Range of Temperatures," has been featured as a spotlight by Nanowerk!
(Click here to read it!)

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February 07, 2022 

 

Congratulations to the team, Ally, Dr. Chandler, Dr. Halman, Damian, and Dr. Afonin for their recent publication in Small, "Anhydrous Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles for Storage and Handling at Broad Range of Temperatures"

(Click here to read it!)

December 23, 2021 

 

Dr. Afonin's Editorial to "Journey into the immunological properties of engineered nanomaterials: There and back again" was just published in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews! Congratulations Dr. Afonin!

(Click here to read it!)

  December 14, 2021  

Our review "Critical review of nucleic acid nanotechnology to identify gaps and inform a strategy for accelerated clinical translation" has been published in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews! Congratulations to Dr. Ke and Dr. Afonin!

(Click here to read it!)

December 13, 2021 

 

Congratulations to Damian and Dr. Afonin! Their review "To PEGylate or not to PEGylate: immunological properties of nanomedicines's most popular component, poly(ethylene) glycol and its alternatives" was just published in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews

(Click here to read it!)

November 2021

Congratulations to Dr. Chandler, Dr. Johnson, and Dr. Afonin's article being highlighted on the ACS Nano cover!

(Click here to read it!)

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October 22, 2021 

 

Great work Dr. Chandler, Dr. Johnson, and Dr. Afonin for publishing their most recent work "The International Society of RNA Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine (ISRNN): The Present and Future of the Burgeoning Field" in ACS Nano!! 

(Click here to read it!)

September 3, 2021

Nanomedicine: NBM has selected our paper "Programmable DNA-Augmented Hydrogels for Controlled Activation of Human Lymphocytes" as the cover for volume 37, 2021(Click here to see it!)

  August 17, 2021  

Our collaborative paper was just published! Congratulations to Morgan, Kyle, Dr. Johnson, Sema, Dr. Panigaj, and Dr. Afonin for their paper "Controlled Organization of Inorganic Materials Using Biological Molecules for Activating Therapeutic Functionalities" which was published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces!

(Click here to read it!)

August 2021

Congratulations to Dr. Morgan Chandler for successfully defending her doctoral dissertation "Dynamic and Conditionally Activated Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles"!! 

  July 20, 2021  

Our collaborative paper was just published! Congratulations to Morgan and Dr. Afonin for their paper "Programmable DNA-Augmented Hydrogels for Controlled Activation of Human Lymphocytes" which was published in Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine!

(Click here to read it!)

  July 12, 2021  

Our review "The Recognition of and Reactions to Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles by Human Immune Cells" has been published in Molecules! Congratulations to Yasmine, Dr. Panigaj, and Dr. Afonin!

(Click here to read it!)

  July 1, 2021  

Congratulations to Alex, Morgan, Damian, Leyla, Seraphim, Oleg, and Dr. Afonin on their article "DNA-Templated Fluorescent Silver Nanoclusters Inhibit Bacterial Growth While Being Non-Toxic to Mannamlian Cells" which was published in Molecules!

(Click here to read it!)

  June 26, 2021  

Our Paper "Simultaneous silencing of Lysophosphatidylcholine Acyltransferases 1–4 by nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs) improves radiation response of melanoma cells" has been published in Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine! Congratulations to Dr. Halman, Morgan, and Dr. Afonin!

(Click here to read it!)

June 25, 2021 

Congratulations to Dr. Panigaj, Dr. Dobrovolskaia, and Dr. Afonin! Their commentary was just published in Nanomedicine.

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June 24, 2021 

Our lab was recently featured in the UNC Charlotte Magazine!

(Click here to read it on page 37!)

June 16, 2021 

Our paper "Exosomes as Natural Delivery Carriers for Programmable Therapeutic Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles (NANPs)" has recently been published in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews! Congratulations to Dr. Ke and Dr. Afonin!

(Click here to read it!)

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May 14, 2021 

Congratulations to Alex and his research proposal for winning the Mining For Gold competition at UNC Charlotte. As part of the award, he will receive $1,000 for his research project. 

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May 11, 2021 

Our book "Therapeutic RNA Nanotechnology: Immunomodulation and Dynamicity 1st Edition" is now available! 

(Click here to order it!)

  April 21, 2021  

Congratulations to Doaha for winning the Science, Technology, and Engineering - Oral Award at the 2021 Undergraduate Research Conference at UNC Charlotte!!

  April 16, 2021

Our paper "Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles (NANPs) as Molecular Tools to Direct Desirable and Avoid Undesirable Immunological Effects" has been published in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews! Congratulations to Dr. Johnson, Morgan Chandler, and Dr. Afonin!

(Click here to read it!)

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  April 14, 2021  

Congratulations to Morgan for being awarded the 2021 Graduate School Summer Fellowship Program (GSSF) from UNC Charlotte! 

  February 20, 2021  

Congratulations to Seraphim S. Kozlov for being awarded 2nd place for his poster "DNA Silver NanoClusters with Antibacterial Properties for Medical Devices" at the International Biotech Symposium 2021!

Seraphim was also awarded with the following accolades at the Frederick County Science and Engineering Fair: 

  • US Public Health Service Meritorious Award 

  • US Air Force Award 

  • Us Agency for International Development Award 

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  January 21, 2021  

Our latest manuscript "Induction of cytokines by Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles (NANPs) depends on the type of delivery carrier" has been published in Molecules! Congratulations to Yelixza, Melina, Morgan, and Dr. Afonin. (Click here to read it!)

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