IRES: Vertically Integrated Team for Structural DNA NanoTech in Denmark

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

IRES: Vertically Integrated Team for Structural DNA NanoTech in Denmark This project sponsors a vertically integrated team (diverse members from education levels spanning high school through post-doctoral) of 5 or 6 participants per year from North Carolina for travel to Aarhus University in Denmark to pursue month-long research projects. Scientifically, the research project will advance the engineering of biological macromolecules (DNA and proteins) for formation of materials with their structures controlled on the nanometer length scale. The team leader will recruit participants from groups commonly underrepresented in science and engineering disciplines including minority and female students. This international research training experience will provide participants with unique opportunities to enlarge their scientific networks and to experience first-hand the benefits of cultural mixing. The project is important and deserves NSF funding, because it will develop molecular tools as well as scientific personnel capable of advancing nanoscience goals critical to the electronics and medical fields. US participants will benefit from significant scientific and social interactions with foreign students and faculty on-site in Denmark. The project will produce significant outcomes including cutting-edge research results and impactful research training experiences for participating American students. The senior investigators involved have received funding through the Danish National Research Foundation which primarily funds Danish students both in Denmark and on visits to the NCSU lab. IRES funding complements the Danish investment by allowing US students to participate in research at Aarhus. The project's scientific focus will be on the development of self-assembling DNA nanostructures and on their application toward nanofabrication of electronic, photonic, and biomedical devices. The NCSU team has used DNA as a building material to implement molecular computers, and to organize proteins and metallic nanoparticles with molecular-scale precision, while the Aarhus team is expert in DNA-guided chemistry for programmed synthesis of very large organic molecules. Developing ways to control matter on the nanoscale by exploiting the same construction principles used by biology (i.e. molecular recognition) holds great promise for diverse nanofabrication and biomedical applications. Engineered supramolecular complexes comprised of DNA, polypeptides, and inorganic nanomaterials provide the right length scale, range of physicochemical interactions, and complexity of shapes for interfacing effectively with biological structures. As such, DNA nanotechnology represents a perfect approach for creating custom diagnostic and ?smart? therapeutic agents for medical applications. Likewise, these same principles and materials are ideal for developing bionanofabrication procedures to compete with lithography for generation of electronic devices and circuits. Pursuit of biomimetic materials science, including molecular engineering for bottom-up assembly of complex nanostructures with diverse chemical, biological, photonic, or electronic functions, requires highly interdisciplinary teams. This cross-disciplinary work will therefore provide opportunities for very broad-based educational experiences to the participants. The cross-pollination provided by IRES funded international travel will lead to molecular materials engineering advances which could impact many fields of science and technology through applications in low-power nanoelectronics, programmable nanochemistry, novel biosensors, and smart therapeutics for biomedicine.