A polymer-peptide hybrid biomaterial synthesized by coupling poly(ethylene imine) directly to resin-supported Tat peptide takes advantage of the unique features associated with the two original cationic materials and functions as a novel gene-delivery vector with good biocompatibility. The figure shows cells transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP) using complexes of the polymer-peptide hybrid and GFP (scale bar: 100 mu m).