In Situ Functionalized Polymers for siRNA Delivery

A new method is reported herein for screening the biological activity of functional polymers across a consistent degree of polymerization and in situ, that is, under aqueous conditions and without purification/isolation of candidate polymers. In brief, the chemical functionality of a poly(acryloyl hydrazide) scaffold was activated under aqueous conditions using readily available aldehydes to obtain amphiphilic polymers. The transport activity of the resulting polymers can be evaluated in situ using model membranes and living cells without the need for tedious isolation and purification steps. This technology allowed the rapid identification of a supramolecular polymeric vector with excellent efficiency and reproducibility for the delivery of siRNA into human cells (HeLa-EGFP). The reported method constitutes a blueprint for the high-throughput screening and future discovery of new polymeric functional materials with important biological applications.