We in the DNA chemistry group are excited about engineering at the nanometer-scale. DNA is not only nature’s favorite information storage molecule, but also the most versatile and programmable material to build artificial nanostructures. In previous projects (PhD phase, discontinued), we developed new interaction motifs for structural DNA Nanotechnology such as a peptide-based molecular glue for double-stranded DNA that we used to build a catenane (two interlocked DNA minicircles).

DNA nanostructures can be used to arrange heteroelements such as proteins, fluorophores or optically active inorganic nanoparticles in 3 dimensions with nanometer precision. The achievable positioning resolution beats any other method available and trillions of copies of structures or devices can be self-assembled in a drop of water. Scaling up the production of nanostructures to these numbers is virtually impossible without using the power of self-assembly.