Lectures and seminars Lattices and functional devices built from DNA

16-03-2023 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Add to iCal
Campus Solna Biomedicum, D1012

Welcome to a seminar with Prof. Dr. Tim Liedl on the topic: "Lattices and functional devices built from DNA".

Tim Liedl Foto: N/A

Speaker

Prof. Dr. Tim Liedl, Professor for experimental physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität.

Abstract

DNA has proven to be a molecule capable of programmable self-assembly in the past [1,2]. In recent years, DNA self-assembly has surpassed its early stages and today is routinely used for constructing functional two- and three-dimensional nanomachines and materials. 

By defining attachment sites for active components on DNA structures, our group has realised complex and nanometer-precise assemblies of biomolecules, organic fluorophores and inorganic nanoparticles [3]. However, the initial thrust catalyzing the rapid development of DNA nanotechnology has been to arrange periodic DNA frameworks to host guest molecules for crystal structure analysis. Despite enormous efforts and fundamental progress, placing guest molecules in designed DNA crystals remains a challenging goal. By adopting design principles of Ned Seeman and Chengde Mao [4], we are able to crystallise DNA origami structures that grow into three dimensional, micrometer-scale assemblies [5]. Silicification of these crystals leads to designer nanomaterials that withstand drying without structural deformation [6].  

Our very recent, yet unpublished, results demonstrate the assembly power of DNA into diamond-type lattices exhibiting structural color and thus our ability to fabricate functional devices and 3D materials that are designed on the molecular level while reaching macroscopic dimensions.

  1. P. W. K. Rothemund, Nature 440, 297–302 (2006)  
  2. N. C. Seeman, Annu. Rev. Biochem. 79, 12.1 (2010)  
  3. R. Schreiber et al. Nature Nanotechnology 9, 74-78 (2014) 
  4. J. Zheng et al. Nature 461, 74-77 (2009)
  5. T. Zhang et al., Adv. Mat. 30, 1800273 (2018)
  6. L. Nguyen et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 58, 912-916 (2019)