Self Assembly and Controlled Folding of Emulsion Polymers

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Non-technical AbstractTraditionally, assembly lines to build machines, from electronic circuits to motor vehicles, follow very specific instruction manuals, followed by robots or people. On the other hand, in biology, organisms self-assemble spontaneously according to the instructions encoded in their genes - following the laws of physics. Inspired by biology, this project embellishes microscopic oil droplets with specific DNA interactions that guide their spontaneous assembly into complex, 3D architectures. These structures range from unusual crystals to helices with exciting optical properties due to their interaction with light. These droplets can readily be solidified, therefore they offer a route to programmable, hands-off manufacturing, with high yield of the desired material. The project aims to explain on a fundamental level the principles of organization that led to life, and this simple model system will be used as an educational tool on the mobile labs of the Biobus, both as an experimental demonstration and as a thought experiment.Technical AbstractThe objective of this proposal is to use biological molecules, particularly lipids and DNA strands, to functionalize emulsions in order to self-assemble arbitrarily designed structures, which can readily be solidified. This versatile system allows us to control the fluidity, specificity, valency, and logical programming of interactions between droplets, which in turn facilitates the assembly of complex structures, including emulsion polymers, loops and folded configurations. In this project, we propose 1) to use multiple flavors of DNA grafted on emulsions to program the structure of matter on the micro-scale, 2) to study the folding dynamics of the pathways in search of organizing principles and 3) to use the assembled components for further assembly into large-scale materials. This 'beads-on-a-string' experimental model is analogous to protein folding on the molecular scale, but provides visual access to the chain dynamics as it folds. A major goal of this project is to integrate science education and research within the laboratory and beyond. Apart from training high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students that participate in the research, the PI participates in the World Science Festival and is a founding member of a science education facility called the Biobase, which provides school students from all socioeconomic backgrounds with a research grade microscopy facility for standards-aligned school day field trips and summer camp programs.