Centre for DNA Nanotechnology

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
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CDNA highlights

March 2, 2010

Single-molecule chemical reactions on DNA origami

Researchers at the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for DNA Nanotechnology (CDNA) at iNANO demonstrate that it is possible to control chemical reactions on DNA nanostructures and generate images of reactions of individual molecules. The results were published on 28 February in Nature Nanotechnology. The article is available here

CDNA news

elena February 12, 2010

Electrochemical assay for attomole detection of DNA

The project was carried out in collaboration between CDNA and DTI. We combined a magnetic bead sandwich hybridization capture assay used for pre-concentration and bioseparation of target DNA, with a lipase-based amplification and electrochemical readout system. The signal amplification in the DNA assay is based on the catalytic activity of a lipase enzyme, and this “electrochemical blotting” concept is principally new. The use of this hydrolytic enzyme allowed for close to few-molecule detection of lipase-labeled DNAs at the electrode surface, due to accumulation of the catalysis product (ester bond cleavage and removal of the redox label from the zone of electrochemical reaction). The developed electrochemical lipase- and magnetic beads-based sandwich hybridization assay represents a fundamentally new electrochemical approach for sensitive DNA detection.

ChemComm link