Establish loading and retention of SST tiles in MCM-41 nanocarriers

Establish whether single-stranded DNA tiles can enter and remain retained in the pores of MCM-41 mesoporous silica nanoparticles under the proposed loading conditions without additional surface functionalization.

Background

The nanocarrier design is based on MCM-41 mesoporous silica nanoparticles previously demonstrated with fluorescein cargo rather than DNA oligonucleotides. The proposed experiment therefore depends on an unverified change of cargo type, complicated by the need for DNA strands to function both as cargo and as pore-blocking guards. The authors note that the pore dimensions are comparable to the estimated hydrodynamic radius of a 30-nucleotide single-stranded tile, making loading and retention an essential prerequisite for the second experimental stage.