High-Throughput Assembly and Characterization Tools for Structural DNA Nanotechnology
Abstract
This DURIP award provides funds for the Principal Investigator to purchase a set of equipment for the purification, testing, and quantitative characterization of nucleic acid-based nanostructures. The set of equipment consists of a multiplexed thermal cycler, a gel documentation system, two centrifuges, a quantitative real-time PCR machine, an Ultraviolet/Visible spectrophotometer with temperature control, and a spectrofluorometer. The Principal Investigator will use the equipment in his ONR-funded research focused on the development of a computer-aided engineering tool for the design and synthesis of structured DNA assemblies, which requires experimentation to validate, test, and further develop the computational design framework for programmed DNA nanostructures. The proposed set of equipment would also aid in advancing the aims of complementary Department of Defense-, Department of Energy (DoE)-, and National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research in the Principal Investigator~s laboratory. Specifically, an Army Research Office Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative titled ~Translating Biochemical Pathways to Non-Cellular Environments~, and a DoE project titled ~DNA Scaffolded Multichromophore Excitonic Antennas~ involve the study of designer DNA-based excitonic assemblies, and computational designs and predictions have already demonstrated significant value in those efforts. The NSF-funded effort addresses the exploration and development of computational design principles for DNA nanostructures using super-resolution microscopy and fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Beyond the value to the specific research efforts in which it will be used, the proposed set of equipment will also play an important role in the science and technology education of the undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows performing the research activities with the equipment. Additionally, the requested equipment will be shared with a teaching and education laboratory neighboring the Principal Investigator~s laboratory during periods of high usage, since the equipment can be more broadly used for nearly all research in molecular biology and biochemistry. The equipment will extend the current capabilities of that teaching laboratory and allow for new avenues of education in modern spectroscopy and quantitative PCR techniques. The particular Massachusetts Institute of Technology undergraduate laboratory course that will benefit from the proposed set of equipment is the Department of Biological Engineering~s ~Laboratory Fundamentals in Biological Engineering~ (Course number 20.109).
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612506
Entities
People
- Mark Bathe
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy