Functionalised gold nanoparticles make a more efficient and versatile delivery system for use in gene therapy and cancer treatment, claim Korean scientists. Gold nanoparticles are non-toxic and easily made and so provide an effective way to deliver therapeutic antisense DNA to disease causing genes. Antisense DNA that is covalently attached to the nanoparticles will bind to messenger RNA of a disease causing gene, preventing translation and therefore inactivating it. But previous systems could deliver only antisense DNA that was covalently cross-linked to gold nanoparticles, which needed to be individually synthesized for each gene of interest. Now, Kangseok Lee and Min Su Han at...