Comparing the efficiency of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (PAO1) and Escherichia coli (BL21) to deliver fluorescence in mammalian cancer cells

• Main Author: Nurrashidah Bte Mansoor
• Other Authors: Xu Chenjie
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68422
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Cancer has been a prevalent health problem that continues to be fatal largely due to the late diagnosis of cancer and the lack of monitoring of the progress of cancer treatments on patients. Therefore over the years, researchers have been leveraging on the advantages of nanosensors as they have great potential in overcoming those issues. Among the various types of nanosensors, Quantum Dots (QDs) is widely used due to its photostability. However, the current methods of delivering QDs in cells is still regarded as inefficient. Hence many studies aimed to improve the efficiency of the delivery of QDs. Several literatures suggested the use of bacteria to deliver nanoparticles including a study that utilized QD-labelled Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (PAO1). Unfortunately, PAO1 is highly infectious and it is resistant to a variety of antimicrobial substances. Thus there is a need to find a comparable bacteria that can efficiently deliver QDs. This paper aimed to determine whether an Escherichia coli strain, BL21, can be a substitute for PAO1 by comparing the efficiency of BL21 and PAO1 in delivering QDs in mammalian cancer cells. BL21 was chosen as it non-pathogenic and it was used to transfect melanoma cancer cells, B16F10 which was known as a suitable transfection host. Based on the results obtained, QD-labelled BL21 was found to be far more efficient than PAO1 hence making it a competent substitute. Although the findings were in our favour, the experiment conducted could be optimized to further increase the transfection efficiency of BL21 and in vivo studies can be conducted to observe the effects of BL21 on the immune response.