Nanoparticles are increasingly being used to improve the bioavailability of a range of drugs, vaccines, adjuvants etc. to targeted sites within a cell. Targeting a site within the cell nucleus is complex as the nanoparticle needs to be first taken up into the cell cytoplasm and then pass through the nuclear membrane.

Soft x-ray tomography (SXT) is proving a very valuable tool to help validate that nanoparticles reach their targeted sites within the ultrastructure of a cell.

The paper below, published in ACS Nano in 2021, examines the use of nanoparticle surface functionalization to enhance cellular uptake and it uses SXT to help validate the successful delivery of nanoparticles to their targeted site within the cell.

Influence of Nuclear Localization sequences on the Intracellular Fate of Gold Nanoparticles

Daniela D. et.al, ACS Nano 2021, Publication date: August 30,2021