CDNA 2010

Welcome

Centre for DNA Nanotechnology (CDNA) is a centre of excellence funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (Danmarks Grundforskningsfond).

The center is based at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) at Aarhus University, Denmark, in close collaboration with two research groups at Duke University, USA and Arizona State University, USA.  The purpose of the centre is to conduct basic research within the field of DNA Nanotechnology and we have gathered an interdisciplinary team of around 35 researchers and students from chemistry, physics and molecular biology.


We exploit the self-assembling capability of oligonucleotides to study and control the assembly of materials at the nanoscale.  This research ranges from assembly of nucleotide derivatives on surfaces, DNA-directed chemistry and DNA-based sensors to formation of complex DNA nanostructures and the interactions of such structures with biological systems. Among the key competences present at the center for the formation and characterization of such structures are synthetic organic chemistry, molecular biology, and scanning probe microscopy. 

Examples on the contributions from CDNA since its establishment in 2007 are:  self-assembly of DNA bases on surfaces studied by STM (Science 2008), development of the first RNA aptamer-based electrochemical senor (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008), synthesis and assembly of or molecular rods along the axis of DNA (Angew. Chem. 2008), development of a software package for design of DNA Origami (ACS Nano 2008, the software is freely available at this home page) and recently we reported on the folding of a viral DNA sequence into a box with a controllable lid (Nature 2009). 

Thank you for visiting our homepage and if you have further questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.
 
Kurt Gothelf 

Director of CDNA
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


          

DGF

 


Comments on content: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

 
 
     
     
 

CDNA highlights

dolphin

Construction of DNA dolphins with flexible tails

Dolphins from the Aarhus University seal were constructed in DNA. The novel DNA structures are characterized by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and shown to have flexible tails. The study involves the development of new software to design DNA-nanostructures of any shape and is expected to advance the field of DNA nanotechnology.

Read more...

 

CDNA news

DNA-spiderMay 2010: DNA nano-spider published in Nature

CDNA collaborator Hao Yan publishes the paper "Molecular robots guided by prescriptive landscapes". A molecular nanorobot dubbed a "spider" and labeled with green dyes traverses a substrate track built upon a DNA origami scaffold. It journeys towards its red-labeled goal by cleaving the visited substrates, thus exhibiting the characteristics of an autonomously moving, behavior-based robot at the molecular scale.

In the same issue of Nature DNA origami was used to create an assembly line for synthesizing gold nanoparticles.

Read more...
 

kjApril 2010: Kasper Jahn wins Rock n' Research

This year’s Researchers Grand Prix (nicknamed Rock’n Research) held in Lille Vega on Tuesday 20 April was won by Kasper Jahn, PhD student at iNANO and CDNA. 

Read more...
 

RNAMarch 2010: Tools for prediction and design

In a review article in New Biotechnology Ebbe Sloth Andersen describes the computer tools available for prediction and design of DNA and RNA structures.

Read review - Browse tool table

 
More news ...