Self-assembled supramolecular strucutres formed by DNA and RNA building blocks studied by scanning probe microscopy at the liquid/solid interface and synchrotron radiation absorption spectroscopy

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The aim of this research proposal is to study the self-assembly of biomolecules such as DNA/RNA building blocks upon their adsorption on solid surfaces by means of state-of-the-art scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques, including scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), University of Aarhus, Denmark. More specifically supramolecular two-dimensional nanostructures formed by nucleoside and nucleotide molecules will be investigated at the liquid-solid interface by STM and AFM. These SPM studies will be supplemented by synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (CD) and UV absorption spectroscopy measurements carried out at the Institute for Storage Ring Facilities in Aarhus (ISA) revealing the electronic structure of bare and dissolved nucleosides and nucleotides. These investigations will elucidate the influence of a solvent on the molecular structure of nucleosides and nucleotides, and will more importantly identify the potential binding sites suitable for the formation of inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonds. The vision of this project is to gain basic fundamental insight into the self-assembly process, which helps to develop new routes that eventually are suitable to design new biologically inspired functional surface structures.