Abstract
[Image: see text] Poly(γ-(4-vinylbenzyl)-l-glutamate) (PVBLG) served as a bioactive and reactive template for the generation of a library of cationic α-helical polypeptides for gene delivery. The top performing polymer outperformed 25-kDa polyethylenimine by 12-fold. Preliminary data indicates that helicity of these cationic polypeptides is essential for their improved performance, with enhanced membrane disruption a likely source of their transfection efficiency.