DNA: Not Merely the Secret of Life
Nadrian C. Seeman
Department of Chemistry
New York University
NY 10003, USA
Biography:
Nadrian C. Seeman was born in Chicago in 1945. Following a BS in biochemistry from the University of Chicago, he received his Ph.D. in biological crystallography from the University of Pittsburgh in 1970. His postdoctoral training, at Columbia and MIT, emphasized nucleic acid crystallography. He obtained his first independent position at SUNY/Albany, where he started exploring rational approach of using branched DNA for the organization of matter on the nanometer scale, particularly crystallization. Ever since, he has been trying to implement the approach of to the organization of matter on the nanometer scale and its spin-offs, such as nanorobotics and the organization of nanoelectronics; since 1988 he has worked at New York University, where he is the Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Chemistry. He was the founding president of the International Society for Nanoscale Science, Computation and Engineering. He has published over 300 papers, and has won numerous prestigious awards including the Feynman Prize and the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience; he is a Thomson-Reuters Citation Laureate and has been elected a Fellow of the AAAS, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Crystallographic Association.
Abstract:
We build branched DNA species that can be joined using Watson-Crick base pairing to produce N-connected objects and lattices. We have used ligation to construct DNA topological targets, such as knots, polyhedral catenanes, Borromean rings and a Solomon's knot.
Nanorobotics is a key area of application. We have made robust 2-state and 3-state sequence-dependent programmable devices and bipedal walkers. We have constructed 2-dimensional DNA arrays with designed patterns from many different motifs. We have used DNA scaffolding to organize active DNA components. We have used pairs of 2-state devices to capture a variety of different DNA targets. We have constructed a molecular assembly line using a DNA origami layer and three 2-state devices, so that there are eight different states represented by their arrangements. We have demonstrated that all eight products can be built from this system.
We have self-assembled a 3D crystalline array and reported its crystal structure to 4 Å resolution. We can use crystals with two molecules in the crystallographic repeat to control the color of the crystals. Rational design of intermolecular contacts has enabled us to improve crystal resolution to better than 3 Å. We can now do strand displacement in the crystals to change their color, thereby making a 3D-based molecular machine; we can visualize the presence of the machine by X-ray diffraction.
The use of DNA to organize other molecules is central to its utility. Earlier, we made 2D checkerboard arrays of metallic nanoparticles, and have now organized gold particles in 3D. Most recently, we have ordered triplex components within the same lattice. Thus, structural DNA nanotechnology has fulfilled its initial goal of controlling the internal structure of macroscopic constructs in three dimensions. A new era in nanoscale control awaits us.
Time: Aug.29th, 2017, 16:30-17:30
Venue: New Biology Building, Room 143
Host: Prof. Bryan Wei
举办单位：生命科学联合中心
