Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia

IBEC Seminar: Francesco Ricci
2018-05-02 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/Madrid) | IBEC, floor 11, Tower I, Baldiri Reixac 4-8, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
DNA-based nanodevices for diagnostic and drug-delivery applications
Francesco Ricci, Chemistry Department, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
DNA nanotechnology uses DNA (or nucleic acids) as a versatile material to rationally engineer tools and molecular devices that can find a multitude of different applications (e.g., in-vivo and in-vitro diagnostics, drug delivery, genetic circuits etc.).
During this presentation I will introduce the field of DNA nanotechnology and I will talk about some of the most exciting examples of the last decade.
I will show how to exploit the “designability” of DNA to fabricate nature-inspired DNA-based nanoswitches and nanodevices that are specifically designed to undergo a conformational change (switch) upon binding to a specific input (i.e. target). This input-triggered conformational change can be used for diagnostic, drug-delivery or synthetic-biology applications.
I will demonstrate how to characterize and recreate in-vitro several mechanisms to control the response of DNA-based nanodevices (1-2) and how to regulate their activity with different chemical and environmental stimuli including pH (3-8), antibodies (2-3), enzymes (9), small molecules (10) and electronic inputs (11).
References
[1] Porchetta. A., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 13238.
[2] Ranallo, S. et al., Angew. Chem., 2015, 54, 13214.
[3] Ranallo, S. et al., Nat. Commun., 2017, 8, 15150.
[4] Idili, A. et al., Nano Lett., 2015, 15, 5539.
[5] Porchetta, A, et al. Nano Lett., 2015, 15, 4467.
[6] Amodio, A. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2014, 136, 16469.
[7] Idili, A. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2014, 136, 5836.
[8] Mariottini, D. et al., Nano Lett., 2017, 17, 3225.
[9] Amodio, A. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, , 138, 12735.
[10] Del Grosso, E. et al., Nano Lett., 2015, 15, 8407.
[11] Ranallo, S. et al., Chem. Sc., 2016, 7, 66-71.
