Dr. Petr Sulc

Technische Universität München

Designing DNA nanostructures for self-assembly: from crystal lattices to reconfigurable and multifarious nanostructures

The control over the self-assembly of complex structures is a long-standing challenge of material science, especially at the colloidal scale, as the desired assembly pathway is often kinetically derailed by the formation of competing alternative structures or amorphous aggregates. The goal of inverse design problem in nanotechnology is hence to find a set of blocks that reliably self-assemble in high yield into a target structure while avoiding kinetic traps and alternative competing states. We present here a design pipeline that uses our coarse-grained model of DNA, called oxDNA, to carry out multiscale molecular simulations of DNA, RNA and proteins to design nanostructures and devices that can be successfully realized in lab. We show applications of our modeling pipeline to design of pyrochlore lattice, a highly coveted 3D lattice structure with promising applications in metamaterial applications. We further show examples of designing finite-size polycube nanostructures built from cube-shaped subunits, and design of self-assembling capsids. We show experimental results showing successful assembly of these multicomponent structure designs using DNA nanotechnology. We will also discuss examples of other recent applications of our modeling tools and show how they can help design different types of nanodevices, including: a multivalent nanosynbodies that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding, and a platform for targeted delivery of therapeutic payloads to cancer cells.

Joergen Kornfeld, MPI for Biological Intelligence

How connectomics is slowly revolutionizing neuroscience

Hybrid Information
Webinar link: https://mpi-biochemistry.zoom-x.de/j/64180753743
Password: 192953
Webinar ID: 641 8075 3743

Prof. Dr. Claus Feldmann
Institut für Anorganische Chemie, KIT, Karlsruhe

Lumineszierende Kronenether, katalytische Hohlkugeln, anti-tumorale Nanopartikel – Vom Konzept über die Synthese zur Eigenschaft