DNA Nanotechnology-based Engineering at the Biointerfaces

Proteins and nucleic acids are dynamically organized in cells to realize their physiological functions with spatial and temporal orderliness. This type of elegant supermolecular assembly has inspired researchers to create molecular/biomolecular structures with dynamic organization outside of the cells. In particular, DNA nanotechnology has proven to possess extraordinary flexibility and convenience for “bottom-up” construction of exquisite nanostructures with high controllability and precision, which holds great promise in a wide range of applications, e.g., nanofabrication and molecular electronics, in-vivo and in-vitro sensing and drug delivery.

In this talk, I will present several examples of using tetrahedral DNA nanostructures (TDNs) for engineering the interfaces of cytoplasmic membranes and biosensors. TDNs are three-dimensional (3D) DNA architecture with high mechanical rigidity and structural stability, which are suitable for organization of higher-ordered nanocomplexes and nanodevices. In one example, we employed single-particle tracking to visualize the internalization of TDNs, and dissect the cell entry pathways of these virus-like nanoparticles. In the second example, we dynamically organized biomolecular receptors at the biosensing interface using TDNs, and performed in-vitro diagnostics for various diseases.