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[Display omitted] Gene therapy offers hope for currently untreatable diseases; the patient's own cellular machinery is recruited to create therapeutics. However, unpredictable responses that lead to neutralization by the host immune system and issues in constraining, controlling and sustaining delivery have presented clinical barriers to otherwise promising therapeutic developments. Here, we show that the protective environment provided by advanced biomaterials can function as injectable gene carriers to focus their therapeutic potential. Firstly, we investigated the potential of a tissue-specific molecular hydrogel to package recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs). Once a delivery pathway was confirmed, a set of rAAV variants were subsequently assessed for their ability to transduce various types of rodent and human neural cells in vitro and in vivo. Based on GFP expression, we identified a relatively new variant, rAAV-DJ, as showing desirable characteristics for constrained delivery and transduction efficiency. For the first time, we demonstrated precise control over the strength and type of interaction between biomaterials and rAAVs enabling the programmed release of viral payloads. This new approach enables specific infection of desired anatomical targets in a programmed fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer contamination is a major pollutant in all waterways and a significant concern of the 21st Century, gaining extensive research, media, and public attention. The polymer pollution problem is so vast; plastics are now observed in some of the Earth's most remote regions such as the Mariana trench. These polymers enter the waterways, migrate, breakdown; albeit slowly, and then interact with the environment and the surrounding biodiversity. It is these biodiversity and ecosystem interactions that are causing the most nervousness, where health researchers have demonstrated that plastics have entered the human food chain, also showing that plastics are damaging organisms, animals, and plants. Many researchers have focused on reviewing the macro and micro-forms of these polymer contaminants, demonstrating a lack of scientific data and also a lack of investigation regarding nano-sized polymers. It is these nano-polymers that have the greatest potential to cause the most harm to our oceans, waterways, and wildlife. This review has been especially ruthless in discussing nano-sized polymers, their ability to interact with organisms, and the potential for these nano-polymers to cause environmental damage in the marine environment. This review details the breakdown of macro-, micro-, and nano-polymer contamination, examining the sources, the interactions, and the fates of all of these polymer sizes in the environment. The main focus of this review is to perform a comprehensive examination of the literature of the interaction of nanoplastics with organisms, soils, and waters; followed by the discussion of toxicological issues. A significant focus of the review is also on current analytical characterisation techniques for nanoplastics, which will enable researchers to develop protocols for nanopolymer analysis and enhance understanding of nanoplastics in the marine environment. Unlabelled Image • Polymer contamination has reached a breaking point. • Contamination has now been observed in the Earth's most remote oceans. • Macro and micro plastics have been discussed comprehensively. • Nanoplastics are an overlooked issue, this review focuses on nanoplastics. • Sources, breakdown, fates, uptake, and characterisation will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]