Student Biomolecular Robotics Team (OhioMOD)

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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) nanotechnology has been developing rapidly in recent years through the introduction of various structural designs of DNA origami/tile assemblies. However, studies of DNA origami cell interactions are limited due to the complexity of cell structures. Synthetic cells can be used for studies of individual cell functions with external control mechanisms. This project aims to design a reconfigurable DNA origami 3-arm nanostructure as the basic building block of a hierarchical nanomachine assembly. The team has designed a 3-arm structure with a uniform length of 50 nm for each arm. The structure is reconfigurable by switching the connection profile between the three arms to a single-stranded, double-stranded or cross-over connection. The reconfigurability of the 3-arm structure allows it to change the angle between arms, allowing the higher-order assembly to generate motion or ultimately change the structure's overall configuration. Future work for this project includes polymerization of the 3-arm structure and control of the system through reconfiguration. Potential applications of this nano-system include synthetic cell studies such as forming a contractile ring to assist in cell mitosis and membrane deformation in endo-/exocytosis. This structure can also be used for future research in non-cellular systems to create adaptive membranes for ionic channel.

The OhioMOD student biomolecular robotics team has been working hard on this research project with the goal of presenting at the annual Biomolecular Robotics Competition, BioMOD. We are a team of eight undergraduate students advised by Dr. Carlos Castro and two graduate students in the Nanoengineering and Biodesign Lab at Ohio State. The pandemic shut this student organization down, but our team is excited for the opportunity to create a website, video and presentation based on our high-level research project. We are excited to share these deliverables at the 2024 BioMOD Jamboree this November. Support through this campaign will go to sending five of our members to Japan, as well as future experimentation with polymerizing our three-arm structure for synthetic cell applications.