Asymmetric DNA Shapes for Orienting Molecular Components within Hybrid Nanodevices

一个关键的问题是“混合纳米器件”的可扩展制造，它将传统制造的光学或电子器件与非传统组件（如单个分子或纳米颗粒）结合起来。非常规组件具有一些受欢迎的特性，但它太小而无法独立工作，而传统制造的设备将非常规组件与更大的世界连接起来。应用包括将量子点并入平板显示器的电子器件中，或并入量子计算机或电信的光学芯片中。生物学应用包括将单个蛋白质或DNA掺入传感器中用于诊断或基因组测序。目前用于制造混合装置的方法太昂贵，并且产量低。 该奖项下的研究结合了实验DNA纳米技术，理论计算几何学和传统的微加工，以开发新的制造技术，将原型混合纳米器件带出实验室，并使它们能够以工业规模廉价生产。根据该奖项开发的技术将通过合作和辅导研讨会在更大的研究社区中传播。 这项研究将通过实验室的学生访问日与妇女和少数民族高中学生分享，并与研究人员互访高中教室，以刺激他们参与STEM领域。长期以来，科学家们一直依靠随机过程将单分子和纳米颗粒与微制造设备集成在一起。这使他们能够展示非传统组件的非凡性能，但仅限于少数原型设备。最近，DNA折纸形状到光刻图案化结合位点上的定向自组装已经允许将单个分子或纳米颗粒可靠地定位在微制造装置内的精确位置处。然而，对称DNA三角形的使用将该技术限制在简单的点状组件上，阻止了必须精确定向的组件的集成，例如分子整流器。这项研究将设计，模拟，合成和实验测试不对称的DNA形状，能够精确地定位他们的货物到光刻结合位点。数值能量景观分析将用于确定有前途的非对称形状，并将构建分析证明，以确认其约束景观没有局部极小值。一个主要的智力贡献将是指导和原则，设计绑定网站和能源景观定向自组装。基于碳纳米管和偏振依赖性荧光染料的数千个双极或多极器件的高产量制造将展示复杂的非对称组件到混合纳米器件中的实用和可扩展的集成。

A key problem is the scalable manufacturing of "hybrid nanodevices" which combine a conventionally-fabricated optical or electronic device with an unconventional component, such as a single molecule or nanoparticle. The unconventional component has some sought-after property, but it is too small to function on its own, and the conventionally-fabricated device connects the unconventional component to the larger world. Applications include the incorporation of quantum dots into electronics for flat panel displays, or into optical chips for quantum computers or telecommunications. Biological applications include the incorporation of single proteins or DNA into sensors for diagnostics or genome sequencing. Current methods for creating hybrid devices are too expensive, and have low yields. Research under this award combines experimental DNA nanotechnology, theoretical computational geometry, and conventional microfabrication to develop novel fabrication techniques that will bring prototype hybrid nanodevices out of the laboratory and enable them to be inexpensively produced at industrial-scale. Techniques developed under this award will be spread through the greater research community via collaborations and tutorial workshops. This research will be shared with women and minority high school students through student visiting days at the laboratory, and reciprocal researcher visits to high school classrooms, to stimulate their participation in STEM fields. Scientists have long relied on random processes to integrate single molecules and nanoparticles with microfabricated devices. This has allowed them to demonstrate the extraordinary performance of unconventional components, but only for a few prototype devices. Recently, the directed self-assembly of DNA origami shapes onto lithographically-patterned binding sites has allowed the reliable positioning of single molecules or nanoparticles at precise locations within microfabricated devices. However, the use of symmetric DNA triangles has limited the technique to simple point-like components, preventing the integration of components which must be precisely oriented, such as molecular rectifiers. This research will design, simulate, synthesize, and experimentally test asymmetric DNA shapes capable of precisely orienting their cargo onto lithographic binding sites. Numerical energy landscape analysis will be used to identify promising asymmetric shapes, and analytic proofs will be constructed to confirm that their binding landscapes have no local minima. A major intellectual contribution will be guidelines and principles for designing binding sites and energy landscapes for directed self-assembly. The high-yield fabrication of thousands of bipolar or multipolar devices based on carbon nanotubes and polarization-dependent fluorescent dyes will demonstrate the practical and scalable integration of complex, asymmetric components into hybrid nanodevices.