"Synthesis and Characterization of Deployable DNA Nanostructures" 

Alexander Swett, MSE PhD Candidate 

Advisors: Professors Jong Hyun Choi and Jeffrey Youngblood

ABSTRACT

Structural DNA nanotechnology is a field which utilizes the complementarity of DNA in order to synthesize well defined nanostructures. Deployable structures are typically macroscopic objects which show large variance between two designed configurations. This seminar demonstrates the development of new strategies used to adapt DNA nanotechnology principles in creating deployable structures at the nanoscale. This seminar first discusses the design of DNA nanostructures, and methods used for creating flexible, dynamic structures are described. Then, fundamental mechanical properties of DNA arising from statistical models such as the freely jointed chain (FJC) and worm like chain (WJC) are considered. Then, the usage of molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate DNA structures to demonstrate key properties such as Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio is discussed. An overview of the characterization methods for DNA structures is shown, including electron scattering for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).