April 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. 

March 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

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 - Press coverage at RSC

January 27, 2010

Professor Kurt Gothelf receives the EliteForsk award

Professor Kurt Vestager Gothelf, Department of Chemistry and iNANO, and director the of the CDNA center, recieves one of five EliteForsk (elite researcher) awards from the Minestry of Science, Technology and innovations.

Press release

EliteForsk link (in Danish)

December 18, 2009

"The Nano box" elected as the top Danish research result of 2009 

The Danish engineering journal, Ingeniøren, has elected the DNA nano-box as the research breakthrough of the year 2009 for science and technology. In May 2009, researchers from CDNA, iNANO and University of Göttingen published an article in the journal Nature that described the design and production of the smallest box in the world.

News link at AU

November 10, 2009

Jørgen Kjems receives research award

On 24 November, the Danish Association of Masters and PhDs’ Research Award 2009 will be presented to Professor Jørgen Kjems of iNANO Center and Department of Molecular Biology at Aarhus University. This award is made in recognition of critical, outstanding and innovative research.

Press release

July 2, 2009

Chemical coupling on DNA 4-Helix Bundles 

The Gothelf group publishes a joint paper with Hao Yan at ASU in Bioconjugate Chemistry. The study describes the distance dependent interhelical coupling of organic rods incorporated in DNA 4-helix bundles.

Article link

June 1, 2009

Scientists as nano-architects

In a popular article in the Danish science magazine "Aktuel Naturvidenskab" Morten Muhlig Nielsen and Ebbe Sloth Andersen describe the history and recent advances in the field of DNA nanotechnology.

Read article (in Danish)

May 6, 2009

DNA origami box in Nature

The DNA 'origami' method was extended into 3D to create an addressable DNA box on the nanometre scale that can be opened by externally supplied DNA 'keys'. The study appeared online at Nature, May 6, 2009: [Paper] [Podcast]

January 29, 2009

Kasper Jahn wins EliteForsk travel award

Kasper Jahn has won the EliteForsk travel award amounting to 250.000 DKK for his research on the application of DNA self-assembly chemistry for bringing together proteins and metal particles at the nano-scale.
Read the news here (in Danish)

January 6, 2009
Joint paper by Vipergen ApS and CDNA
The Copenhagen-based biotechnology company Vipergen ApS and the group of Kurt Gothelf at CDNA are publishing a joint paper on the YoctoReactor technology in J. Am. Chem. Soc.
Read the paper here!

January 2, 2009
CDNA international collaborator publishes in Science
The research group of Hao Yan has published a paper in Science entitled "Control of Self-Assembly of DNA Tubules Through Integration of Gold Nanoparticles", where they show how gold particles incorporated into DNA strands drive the formation of a variety of three-dimensional spiral architectures.
Read the paper here!

September 3, 2008
Nanotube video about DNA design
Ebbe S Andersen and colleagues introduce their ACS nano paper about a software program for designing DNA origami structures and the characterization of DNA dolphins with flexible tails. The full article may be found at this DOI.
Video link

CDNA researcher publishes in Science
Thom Labean is coauthor on a recent Science paper that reports the success of synthesizing molecular tubes with monodisperse, programmable circumferences, which is an important goal shared by nanotechnology, materials science, and supermolecular chemistry.
Read paper

Joint international papers

Two joint papers from the groups of Hao Yan at Arizona State University and Kurt Gothelf at University of Aarhus have recently been published. The first paper published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. describes a new method for conjugating DNA to Au nanoparticles and immobilization of these conjugates on DNA origami. The second paper published in  Angewandte Chemie describes the covalent coupling of molecular rods along the axis of a dsDNA helix.

June 11, 2008

New DNA origami software released

The SARSE - DNA origami package version 1.0 was released on the CDNA website (see intro page). The package makes it really easy to design complex DNA nanostructures. The package has a nice tutorial that goes through the steps involved in creating the logo of the University of Aarhus in DNA (see tutorial).

June 11, 2008

Dolphins from the logo of the University of Aarhus constructed in DNA
In a new ACS NANO article CDNA researchers describe the design of DNA-dolphins from the University of Aarhus logo. 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 article, press release and try program

May 2008

Postdoc position available

The Centre for DNA Nanotechnology (CDNA) at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, invites applications for a postdoc in nucleic acid-based nanostructures and novel molecular probes for bioanalysis, biosensors, biotechnological and biomedical applications (see more details).

April 2008 

PhD in the US

Are you interested in a 3 year PhD in the area of DNA Nanotechnology at DUKE UNIVERSITY, Durham, North Carolina or ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, Phoenix, Arizona? (see more details).

Jan 23, 2008

Kurt Gothelf receives ATV-prize

• Press release (in Danish)

Centerleader Kurt Gothelf promoted to full professor (MSO) in Organic Nanochemistry

• Press release (in danish)

CDNA celebrates its inauguration

• Open invitation
• Press release