Engineering Vertical Silicon Nanostructures for Delivering Bioactive Molecules to Mammalian Cells

Engineered cell–material interfaces driven by 1D vertical nanostructures (VNS) have emerged as a promising route to mediate intracellular delivery that in many instances outperforms its conventional viral and non-viral counterparts. Due to their nanoscale dimensions and localised interactions with a large number of cells, VNS allow intracellular access without inducing toxicity, and can transport genes or other bioactive molecules into them efficiently and in a high throughput manner. This Thesis presents a set of experimental workflows aiming to deliver new paradigms for the design, fabrication, and evaluation of improved VNS–cell interfaces for advanced therapeutics.