Light and nanoneedles steer cell fate with single-cell precision
In ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, porous silicon nanoneedles and laser light deliver nucleic acids into chosen cells, switching their fate exactly where we target.
Building better tissue models needs a way to change the fate of specific cells, in specific places. Gene delivery is rarely that precise, and optogenetics requires complex genetic engineering. Valeria Caprettini, Chantelle Spiteri and colleagues show that nanoneedle-mediated optoporation, in which porous silicon nanoneedles concentrate laser light to open a way into the cells they touch, delivers nucleic acids with spatial resolution.
Modelling and experiments mapped how wavelength, nanoneedle geometry and porosity shape the light’s local field, and thermally carbonising the needle surface gave the best results: efficient delivery of dyes, large dextran and siRNA, and 72% mRNA transfection with protein expression sustained after 24 hours. Delivering SNAIL1 mRNA to selected cells triggered a localised epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, a direct demonstration of spatially resolved cell-fate engineering. The paper is open access.
Caprettini V, Spiteri C, Martella DA, Mustfa SA, Ge Y, … Zayats AV, Chiappini C. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (2026). doi:10.1021/acsbiomaterials.6c01217