DNA-Based Nanomaterials with Robotic Functions

DNA nanotechnology is a promising approach for creating soft robotic nanomaterials due to its ability to create nanostructures of unprecedented geometric complexity and high programmability. While recent advances have led to dynamic DNA devices capable of undergoing complex motions, the size and functionality of these structures remains limited [1]. In this talk, I will describe our recent efforts in designing and modeling complex multicomponent DNA nanomaterials with tailored or emergent dynamic behaviors characteristic of smart robotic systems. I will begin by discussing a software we developed that uses feedback from coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to automate the design of freeform 3D DNA nanostructures and their assemblies [2]. I will then show how we used this framework along with mesoscopic models, simulations, and statistical mechanics to create 1D arrays of sterically interacting DNA origami structures that can communicate mechanical signals along the array [3,4] and 2D arrays of interacting DNA rotors that can undergo intriguing order-disorder transitions akin to, and beyond, the Ising lattice [5]. Such systems capable of exhibiting complex dynamic, organizational behavior could be harnessed for applications in sensing, soft robotics, optics, and energy harvesting.<br/><br/>[1] DeLuca, M., Shi, Z., Castro, C.E. and Arya, G., 2020. Dynamic DNA nanotechnology: toward functional nanoscale devices. Nanoscale Horizons, 5:182-201.<br/>[2] Pfeifer, W., Huang, C.M., Poirier, M.G., Arya, G. and Castro, C., 2023. Versatile Computer Aided Design of Freeform DNA Nanostructures and Assemblies. Science Advances (under revision).<br/>[3] Wang, Y., Sensale, S., Pedrozo, M., Huang, C.-M., Poirier, M.G., Arya, G., and Castro, C.E., 2023. Steric Communication between Dynamic Components on DNA Nanodevices. ACS Nano 17:8271-8280.<br/>[4] Sensale, S., Sharma, P. and Arya, G., 2022. Binding kinetics of harmonically confined random walkers. Physical Review E, 105:044136.<br/>[5] DeLuca, M., Pfeifer, W.G., Randoing, B., Huang, C.-M., Poirier, M.G., Castro, C.E. and Arya, G., 2023. Thermally reversible pattern formation in arrays of molecular rotors. Nanoscale, 15:8356-8365.