Biodegradable nano-needle platform for high-efficiency gene editing in plants
A biodegradable nano-needle technology that uses mechanoporation to deliver large genetic cargo into plant cells and tissues with over 90% efficiency. Designed for CRISPR/Cas gene editing to engineer crops with enhanced defense against fungal diseases and insect pests, supporting food security and urban farming applications.
Overview
This solution offers a biodegradable nano-needle platform for delivering genetic cargo into plant cells and tissues with high efficiency. Existing gene editing methods, such as Agrobacterium, biolistic particles, and viral vectors, suffer from low efficiency, limited cargo load, and poor throughput. The nano-needle technology addresses these limitations by exploiting mechanoporation, a physical puncture mechanism, to deliver large genetic payloads directly through the plant cell wall. The platform supports the creation of transgenic and mutant crop libraries to interrogate plant defense mechanisms against insect pests and fungal diseases, enabling crop engineering, fungicide and herbicide development, and the production of plants with targeted traits for urban farming.
Technical specifications
- Mechanoporation delivery: Nano-needles physically puncture the plant cell wall to deliver genetic cargo, achieving greater than 90% delivery efficiency.
- Biodegradable materials: Nano-needles are fabricated from biodegradable materials and dissolve in plant fluids within 30 minutes of delivery.
- Large cargo capacity: Supports delivery of large protein and genetic cargo, including CRISPR/Cas systems for gene knock-out or over-expression.
- Low material requirements: Requires only 1 to 2 micrograms of starting material per delivery.
- Versatile cell and tissue targets: Validated for delivery into pollen, protoplasts, and leaf tissues with minimal cellular perturbation.
- Centrifuge-based delivery for single cells: Pollens and protoplasts are centrifuged onto nano-needles to enable cargo loading.
- Clamp device for tissue delivery: A custom clamp device punctures nano-needles through plant tissues with calibrated forces for spatial cargo delivery at desired tissue depths.
- Protoplast fusion potential: Enables exploration of protoplast fusion for novel hybrid selection beyond what sexual hybridization can achieve.
Technology readiness level
The nano-needle fabrication and chemical functionalization have been optimized, with strong experimental data supporting delivery efficiency greater than 90% across pollen, protoplast, and leaf systems. Future validation efforts include establishing a transgenic plant library using CRISPR/Cas cargo to characterize plant defense genes, engineering pollens for urban farming applications in Singapore, and exploring protoplast fusion for novel hybrid selection. The technology is positioned for further development and pilot-scale validation in crop engineering workflows.
About National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is a comprehensive public research university and the country’s flagship, known for a global, collaborative culture. Industry partners access co‑located corporate labs, shared core facilities, and an integrated academic health system that supports clinical translation at scale. Campuses border the one‑north and Singapore Science Park innovation districts, linking companies to deep‑tech startups, government research institutes, and multinational R&D hubs. Research is powered by competitive national funding from the National Research Foundation Singapore, A*STAR, and the Ministry of Education, alongside international consortia and industry‑sponsored programs. A dedicated technology transfer office and enterprise programs handle IP, licensing, and venture creation, offering streamlined engagement models, pilots, and access to talent.
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