Building Cellular Mimics using DNA Nanotechnology

DNA Nanotechnology has emerged as a dominant platform for the development of responsive macromolecular assemblies. The project concerns design and manufacture of responsive cellular mimics by functionalizing liposomes with DNA nanostructures. These synthetic constructs will be morphologically similar to cells, and able to release compounds in response to the presence of a target analyte for application in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. The project involves a combination of experimental work and coarse grained numerical simulation for in silico optimization of DNA nanostructures.