IRES: Vertically Integrated Team for Structural DNA NanoTech in Denmark

IRES：丹麦的结构DNA纳米技术垂直整合团队本项目每年赞助一个由5或6名来自北卡罗来纳州的参与者组成的垂直整合团队（从高中到博士后的不同教育水平的成员），前往丹麦的奥胡斯大学进行为期一个月的研究项目。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长度尺度上的材料。团队负责人将从科学和工程学科通常代表性不足的群体中招募参与者，包括少数民族和女性学生。这种国际研究培训经验将为参与者提供独特的机会，扩大他们的科学网络，并亲身体验文化融合的好处。该项目很重要，值得NSF资助，因为它将开发分子工具以及能够推进电子和医学领域关键纳米科学目标的科学人员。美国参与者将受益于与丹麦的外国学生和教师现场的重要科学和社会互动。该项目将产生重大成果，包括尖端的研究成果和参与美国学生的有影响力的研究培训经验。参与的高级研究人员通过丹麦国家研究基金会获得资助，该基金会主要资助丹麦学生在丹麦和访问NCSU实验室。IRES资助补充了丹麦的投资，允许美国学生参与奥胡斯的研究。该项目的科学重点将是自组装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作为构建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，而奥胡斯团队则是DNA引导化学的专家，用于非常大的有机分子的程序化合成。通过利用生物学（即分子识别）使用的相同构造原理来开发在纳米尺度上控制物质的方法，为各种纳米纤维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化超分子复合物提供了正确的长度尺度、物理化学相互作用的范围和形状的复杂性，以有效地与生物结构连接。因此，DNA纳米技术代表了一种完美的方法，用于创建定制的诊断和？聪明吗用于医学应用的治疗剂。同样，这些相同的原理和材料是开发生物纳米制造过程的理想选择，以与光刻技术竞争电子器件和电路的产生。追求仿生材料科学，包括分子工程自下而上组装具有不同化学，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基础广泛的教育经验的机会。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，这可能会影响许多科学和技术领域，通过低功率纳米电子学，可编程纳米化学，新型生物传感器和生物医学智能治疗学的应用。

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.