Related papers: Comprehensive view of microscopic interactions bet…
The self-assembly of DNA-coated colloids controlled by enzymatic reactions has the potential to enable the formation of materials with hierarchical organization and switchable configurations. However, the problem of designing such…
We propose a model that can account for the experimentally observed phase behavior of DNA-nanoparticle assemblies (R. Jin et al., JACS 125, 1643 (2003); T. A. Taton et al., Science 289, 1757 (2000)). The binding of DNA-coated nano-particles…
DNA-functionalized particles have great potential for the design of complex self-assembled materials. The major hurdle in realizing crystal structures from DNA-functionalized particles is expected to be kinetic barriers that trap the system…
Understanding the motion of particles with ligand-receptors is important for biomedical applications and material design. Yet, even among a single design, the prototypical DNA-coated colloids, seemingly similar micrometric particles hop or…
Here we derive and experimentally test a free energy functional that captures the adhesion of DNA-coated emulsion droplets. Generalizing previous approaches, the theory combines important energetic and entropic effects of microscopic DNA…
Over the last decade, the field of programmable self-assembly has seen an explosion in the diversity of crystal lattices that can be synthesized from DNA-coated colloidal nanometer- and micrometer-scale particles. The prevailing wisdom has…
Colloids coated with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) can bind selectively to other colloids coated with complementary ssDNA. The fact that DNA-coated colloids (DNACCs) can bind to specific partners opens the prospect of making colloidal…
We present direct evidence for a reversible phase transition of DNA-linked colloidal gold assemblies. Transmission electron microscopy and optical absorption spectroscopy are used to monitor the colloidal gold phase transition, whose…
DNA is now firmly established as a versatile and robust platform for achieving synthetic nanostructures. While the folding of single molecules into complex structures is routinely achieved through engineering basepair sequences, much less…
Photonic crystals -- a class of materials whose optical properties derive from their structure in addition to their composition -- can be created by self-assembling particles whose sizes are comparable to the wavelengths of visible light.…
Lasers based on biological materials are attracting an increasing interest in view of their use in integrated and transient photonics. DNA as optical biopolymer in combination with highly-emissive dyes has been reported to have excellent…
DNA nanocompartment is a typical DNA-based machine whose function is dependent of molecular collective effect. Fundamental properties of the device have been addressed via electrochemical analysis, fluorescent microscopy, and atomic force…
We design a system with a binary suspension of colloids and a surface that triggers the self-assembly of crystallites with a finite thickness. The proposed design allows controlling the number of layers forming the aggregate and constrains…
Colloidal systems find important applications ranging from fabrication of photonic crystals to direct probing of phenomena typically encountered in atomic crystals and glasses. New applications - such as nanoantennas, plasmonic sensors, and…
Recent experimental and theoretical approaches have attempted to quantify the physical organization (compaction and geometry) of the bacterial chromosome with its complement of proteins (the nucleoid). The genomic DNA exists in a complex…
DNA self-assembly is a well-understood nanotechnology to obtain extremely ordered structures from the nanometer to up to the hundred of microns scale. By contrast, DNA hydrogels rely on the disordered assembly of DNA building blocks to…
DNA-coated colloids can crystallize into a multitude of lattices, ranging from face-centered cubic to diamond and thereby contribute to our understanding of crystallization and open avenues to producing structures with useful photonic…
DNA-interacting proteins have roles multiple processes, many operating as molecular machines which undergo dynamic metastable transitions to bring about their biological function. To fully understand this molecular heterogeneity, DNA and…
Colloidal particles with DNA `legs' that can bind reversibly to receptors on a surface can be made to `walk' if there is a gradient in receptor concentration. We use a combination of theory and Monte Carlo simulations to explore how…
Computational methods for designing interactions between colloidal particles that induce self-assembly have received much attention for their promise to discover tailored materials. However, it often remains a challenge to translate…