New York University Structural DNA Nanotechnology Facility

纽约大学结构 DNA 纳米技术设施

• 批准号: 0957834
• 负责人: Michael Ward
• 金额: $ 166.32万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0957834&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: New; York; University; Structural; DNA

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Intellectual Merit. Structural DNA nanotechnology - the use of synthetic DNA molecules to develop branched motifs that can be assembled into objects, lattices and devices using the information inherent in the DNA molecule - is a rapidly expanding research enterprise that was pioneered at New York University (NYU) by Professor Nadrian Seeman, a co-PI and Director of the NYU Structural DNA Nanotechnology Facility. This work has blossomed into an internationally recognized research discipline, but the existing conditions of the NYU facility, which was renovated more than 20 years ago, threaten to slow advances in the field. This infrastructure project will enable NYU to correct experimental limitations and poor working conditions in the existing facility, which include damaged walls, uprooted floor tiles, corroded casework, inoperable hoods, poor student workspace, poor crystal preparation and characterization space, inadequate Ethernet capabilities, and outdated molecular graphics and data analysis facilities. Moreover, advances in computation and instrumentation have rendered many infrastructure features of the facility obsolete. The proposed project will address these constraints by creating a 710 square foot data analysis room, with an adjoining 295 square foot computer graphics room; refurbishing two shared wet laboratories, totaling 1065 square feet; creating a 325 square foot crystal preparation and characterization room, reconfigured for improving crystal growth capability, atomic force microscopy and sample handling; and replacing an outdated cold room with a 120 square foot environmental chamber. The renovation will substantially improve shared space utilization, laboratory practices, cyberinfrastructure, data handling, DNA nanostructure design and characterization, integrity and reproducibility of experimental work, safety, data security, and laboratory security.Broader Impacts. Structural DNA nanotechnology was innovated and established in the site of this infrastructure renovation project, and during the past decade this field has grown from this single laboratory to nearly 50 laboratories worldwide today. The existing facility supports the research of the faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and external collaborators on a continual basis. Moreover, as the founding site of structural DNA nanotechnology, the NYU facility has become a nexus for training many visitors on a continual basis. These individuals hail from U.S. institutions as well as institutions worldwide (e.g., Italy, Germany, South Korea, Japan, and Australia), all interested in learning structural DNA nanotechnology fundamentals. The facility trains at least three high school students each year, and many of the high school students have won awards based on their work. The renovation of the laboratory will permit continuation and expansion of these training activities and collaborations, which are essential to the continued growth of the structural DNA nanotechnology field. The renovation of the Structural DNA Nanotechnology Facility will permit its investigators to accelerate their research efforts, employing DNA nanostructures to direct the assembly of nanoparticles, inorganic nanotubes, and nanoelectronic/nanophotonic components into precise 3D arrangements. The investigators will incorporate DNA-based nanomechanical devices into 3D crystals and use molecular cavities in these crystals as host sites for biological species, which can facilitate structure determination of biomolecules as well as their organization into multi-enzyme species. The renovated facility will provide a modernized laboratory environment for training all levels of investigators in DNA design and synthesis, crystallization and crystal preparation, characterization, and data refinement and visualization.

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。 智力优势。 结构DNA纳米技术-使用合成的DNA分子来开发可以使用DNA分子中固有的信息组装成物体，晶格和设备的分支图案-是一个迅速发展的研究企业，由纽约大学（NYU）的Nadrian Seeman教授开创，他是纽约大学结构DNA纳米技术设施的共同PI和主任。 这项工作已经发展成为一个国际公认的研究学科，但纽约大学设施的现有条件，这是20多年前翻新，威胁到该领域的进展缓慢。该基础设施项目将使纽约大学能够纠正现有设施中的实验限制和恶劣的工作条件，包括损坏的墙壁，连根拔起的地砖，腐蚀的外壳，无法操作的通风橱，学生工作空间差，晶体制备和表征空间差，以太网能力不足以及过时的分子图形和数据分析设施。此外，计算和仪器的进步使该设施的许多基础设施功能过时。拟议项目将通过创建一个710平方英尺的数据分析室和一个相邻的295平方英尺的计算机图形室来解决这些限制;翻新两个共享的湿实验室，总计1065平方英尺;创建一个325平方英尺的晶体制备和表征室，重新配置以提高晶体生长能力、原子力显微镜和样品处理;用一个120平方英尺的环境室取代过时的冷藏室。改造将大大提高共享空间的利用率、实验室实践、网络基础设施、数据处理、DNA纳米结构设计和表征、实验工作的完整性和再现性、安全性、数据安全性和实验室安全性。结构DNA纳米技术是在这个基础设施改造项目的所在地创新和建立的，在过去的十年中，这个领域已经从这个单一的实验室发展到今天全球近50个实验室。现有的设施支持教师，博士后研究员，研究生和本科生的研究，并在持续的基础上外部合作者。此外，作为结构DNA纳米技术的创始地点，纽约大学的设施已成为一个不断培训许多游客的纽带。这些人来自美国机构以及世界各地的机构（例如，意大利、德国、韩国、日本和澳大利亚），都对学习结构DNA纳米技术基础感兴趣。该设施每年至少培训三名高中生，许多高中生因其工作而获奖。实验室的翻新将允许继续和扩大这些培训活动和合作，这对结构DNA纳米技术领域的持续增长至关重要。 结构DNA纳米技术设施的翻新将使其研究人员能够加速他们的研究工作，利用DNA纳米结构将纳米颗粒，无机纳米管和纳米电子/纳米光子组件组装成精确的3D排列。研究人员将把基于DNA的纳米机械设备整合到3D晶体中，并使用这些晶体中的分子腔作为生物物种的宿主位点，这可以促进生物分子的结构确定以及它们组织成多酶物种。翻新后的设施将提供一个现代化的实验室环境，用于培训各级研究人员进行DNA设计和合成、结晶和晶体制备、表征以及数据细化和可视化。