IRES: Vertically Integrated Team for Structural DNA NanoTech in Denmark

IRES: vertical Integrated Team for Structural DNA NanoTech in Denmark这个项目资助了一个垂直整合的团队（从高中到博士后的不同教育水平的成员），每年有5或6名参与者从北卡罗来纳州前往丹麦奥胡斯大学进行为期一个月的研究项目。在科学上，该研究项目将推进生物大分子（DNA和蛋白质）的工程，以形成其结构控制在纳米尺度上的材料。团队负责人将从通常在科学和工程学科中代表性不足的群体中招募参与者，包括少数民族和女学生。这种国际研究培训经验将为参与者提供独特的机会来扩大他们的科学网络，并亲身体验文化融合的好处。这个项目很重要，值得美国国家科学基金会资助，因为它将开发分子工具，以及能够推进对电子和医学领域至关重要的纳米科学目标的科学人员。美国参与者将受益于与外国学生和教师在丹麦现场进行重要的科学和社会互动。该项目将产生重大成果，包括尖端的研究成果和有影响力的研究培训经验参与的美国学生。参与研究的高级研究人员获得了丹麦国家研究基金会的资助，该基金会主要资助在丹麦的丹麦学生和访问NCSU实验室的丹麦学生。IRES资助通过允许美国学生参与奥胡斯的研究来补充丹麦的投资。该项目的科学重点将放在自组装DNA纳米结构的发展及其在电子、光子和生物医学设备的纳米制造中的应用。NCSU团队使用DNA作为建筑材料来实现分子计算机，并以分子尺度的精度组织蛋白质和金属纳米颗粒，而Aarhus团队则是DNA引导化学的专家，用于编程合成非常大的有机分子。通过利用生物学中使用的相同结构原理（即分子识别）来开发纳米尺度上控制物质的方法，为各种纳米制造和生物医学应用带来了巨大的希望。由DNA、多肽和无机纳米材料组成的工程超分子复合物提供了合适的长度尺度、物理化学相互作用的范围和形状的复杂性，可以有效地与生物结构结合。因此，DNA纳米技术代表了一种创造定制诊断和“智能”的完美方法。医疗用治疗剂。同样，这些相同的原理和材料是开发生物纳米制造程序的理想选择，可以与光刻技术竞争电子设备和电路的产生。追求仿生材料科学，包括分子工程，自下而上组装具有多种化学、生物、光子或电子功能的复杂纳米结构，需要高度跨学科的团队。因此，这项跨学科的工作将为参与者提供非常广泛的教育经验的机会。由IRES资助的国际旅行提供的交叉授粉将导致分子材料工程的进步，这将通过在低功耗纳米电子学，可编程纳米化学，新型生物传感器和生物医学智能治疗方面的应用影响许多科学和技术领域。

IRES: Vertically Integrated Team for Structural DNA NanoTech in Denmark This project sponsors a vertically integrated team (diverse members from education levels spanning high school through post-doctoral) of 5 or 6 participants per year from North Carolina for travel to Aarhus University in Denmark to pursue month-long research projects. Scientifically, the research project will advance the engineering of biological macromolecules (DNA and proteins) for formation of materials with their structures controlled on the nanometer length scale. The team leader will recruit participants from groups commonly underrepresented in science and engineering disciplines including minority and female students. This international research training experience will provide participants with unique opportunities to enlarge their scientific networks and to experience first-hand the benefits of cultural mixing. The project is important and deserves NSF funding, because it will develop molecular tools as well as scientific personnel capable of advancing nanoscience goals critical to the electronics and medical fields. US participants will benefit from significant scientific and social interactions with foreign students and faculty on-site in Denmark. The project will produce significant outcomes including cutting-edge research results and impactful research training experiences for participating American students. The senior investigators involved have received funding through the Danish National Research Foundation which primarily funds Danish students both in Denmark and on visits to the NCSU lab. IRES funding complements the Danish investment by allowing US students to participate in research at Aarhus. The project's scientific focus will be on the development of self-assembling DNA nanostructures and on their application toward nanofabrication of electronic, photonic, and biomedical devices. The NCSU team has used DNA as a building material to implement molecular computers, and to organize proteins and metallic nanoparticles with molecular-scale precision, while the Aarhus team is expert in DNA-guided chemistry for programmed synthesis of very large organic molecules. Developing ways to control matter on the nanoscale by exploiting the same construction principles used by biology (i.e. molecular recognition) holds great promise for diverse nanofabrication and biomedical applications. Engineered supramolecular complexes comprised of DNA, polypeptides, and inorganic nanomaterials provide the right length scale, range of physicochemical interactions, and complexity of shapes for interfacing effectively with biological structures. As such, DNA nanotechnology represents a perfect approach for creating custom diagnostic and ?smart? therapeutic agents for medical applications. Likewise, these same principles and materials are ideal for developing bionanofabrication procedures to compete with lithography for generation of electronic devices and circuits. Pursuit of biomimetic materials science, including molecular engineering for bottom-up assembly of complex nanostructures with diverse chemical, biological, photonic, or electronic functions, requires highly interdisciplinary teams. This cross-disciplinary work will therefore provide opportunities for very broad-based educational experiences to the participants. The cross-pollination provided by IRES funded international travel will lead to molecular materials engineering advances which could impact many fields of science and technology through applications in low-power nanoelectronics, programmable nanochemistry, novel biosensors, and smart therapeutics for biomedicine.