Hybrid Inorganic-Nucleic Acid Structures

通过该奖项，大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目资助卡内基梅隆大学的Catalina Achim教授开展含金属、配体修饰的核酸结构的研究，特别强调肽核酸（PNA）三联体。配位数为3至6的金属配合物将通过用两个或三个单齿、双齿或三齿配体取代核碱基的三联体而纳入PNA三联体。PNA三聚体的配体修饰将用于将金属离子与具有广泛拓扑结构和几何形状的更大的DNA纳米结构相结合。这种方法可能在未来导致具有有趣的磁性和电子性质的复杂无机核酸结构。当前的技术进步和需求要求制造具有接近分子和原子大小的形态特征的材料。核酸是这些材料的候选构建模块，DNA就是一个例子，因为从核酸中组装二维和三维结构所需的信息可以按照它们的序列编码，就像遗传信息被编码一样。Achim教授小组的研究利用了核酸的这些特性，并利用化学合成和光谱学方法来创建和表征含金属的核酸纳米结构。进行研究的研究生和本科生掌握化学、生物和物理的知识和技能。我们的研究成果将被整合到研究生和本科生的“基于核酸的功能纳米器件”课程中。Achim教授是DNAZone的主任，DNAZone是卡内基梅隆大学核酸科学与技术中心的外展项目。她和她的学生参与了DNAZone外展活动的开发和交付，旨在提高4 -12年级学生对STEM职业的参与度、态度和信念。

Through this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program is funding Professor Catalina Achim at Carnegie Mellon University to carry out studies of metal-containing, ligand-modified nucleic acid structures, with a particular emphasis on peptide nucleic acid (PNA) triplexes. Metal complexes with coordination number 3 to 6 will be incorporated in the PNA triplexes by substitution of a triplet of nucleobases with two or three mono-, bi-, or tri-dentate ligands. The ligand modification of PNA triplexes will be used to integrate metal ions with larger DNA nanostructures, which have an extensive range of topologies and geometries. This method may lead in the future to complex inorganic nucleic acid structures with interesting magnetic and electronic properties. Current technological advances and needs require the manufacturing of materials that have morphological features close to the size of molecules and atoms. A candidate for building blocks for such materials are nucleic acids, of which DNA is an example, because the information needed to assemble two- and three dimensional structures from nucleic acids can be encoded in their sequence just as the genetic information is encoded. Research in Professor Achim's group takes advantage of these properties of nucleic acids and makes use of chemical synthesis and spectroscopy methods to create and characterize metal-containing, nucleic acid nanostructures. The graduate and undergraduate students who conduct the research acquire knowledge and skills of chemistry, biology and physics. The results of the proposed research are integrated in a course on Functional Nanodevices Based on Nucleic Acids for graduate and undergraduate students. Professor Achim is the Director of DNAZone, the outreach program of the Center for Nucleic Acids Science and Technology at Carnegie Mellon. She and her students participate in the development and delivery of the outreach activities of DNAZone, which are intended to improve the engagement, attitudes and beliefs of 4th-12th grade students towards STEM careers.