Viral nanoparticles (VNPs) serve as excellent nanobuilding blocks for materials design and fabrication. The main advantages are their nanometer-range size, the propensity to self-assemble into monodisperse nanoparticles of discrete shape and size, the high degree of symmetry and polyvalency, the relative ease of producing large quantities, the exceptional stability and robustness, biocompatibility, and bioavailability. Last but not least, the particles present programmable units, which can be modified by either genetic modification or chemical bioconjugation methods.

Contents

Chemical Modification of Viruses and Virus-Like Particles ...................... 1

E. Strable, M.G. Finn

Structure-Based Engineering of an Icosahedral Virus for Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology ............ 23

N.F. Steinmetz, T. Lin, G.P. Lomonossoff, J.E. Johnson

Hybrid Assembly of CPMV Viruses and Surface Characteristics of Different Mutants .................. 59

N.G. Portney, G. Destito, M. Manchester, M. Ozkan

A Library of Protein Cage Architectures as Nanomaterials ....................... 71

M.L. Flenniken, M. Uchida, L.O. Liepold, S. Kang, M.J. Young, T. Douglas

Biomedical Nanotechnology Using Virus-Based Nanoparticles ................. 95

G. Destito, A. Schneemann, M. Manchester

Tumor Targeting Using Canine Parvovirus Nanoparticles ......................... 123

P. Singh

Index ............................................................................. 143