The Application of DNA in Pharmaceutics, Drug Delivery and Diagnostics

Title: The Application of DNA in Pharmaceutics, Drug Delivery and Diagnostics

Speaker: Prof. Dan Luo(罗丹), Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering

       Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-5701, USA

Time: 10:00 am, Thursday, June 13, 2019

Location: 912-730, Dushu Lake Campus

Abstract: DNA provides a variety of routes for building up novel materials that can be used for both genetic and generic purposes. Over the last 18 years, my group at Cornell has been engineering DNA, from nanoscale to bulk scale, as both genetic materials and generic materials. In this talk, I will focus on how we have designed and developed DNA-based hydrogels for real-world applications from diagnostics to pharmaceutics. More specifically, I will elaborate on the creation of the first-ever, all-DNA hydrogel and from which a protein-producing DNA hydrogel (termed P-gel). Besides the chemical crosslinked DNA hydrogels, a physical, entangled DNA hydrogel was also invented in my group. This type of DNA hydrogel has the meta-property in that the hydrogel is both a liquid and a solid. Our DNA P-gel may lead towards the realization of synthetic cells while our meta-DNA hydrogel may become a super condensed ultra-compact DNA (scudDNA) for the direct delivery of DNA-based immuno therapeutics. Recently, we have also created life-like DNA hydrogels that possessed metabolic activities while at the same time was able to move autonomously against flow. Other novel, large scale DNA hydrogels will also be discussed. Indeed, DNA has proven to be not only the amazing molecule of life, but also a powerful and versatile nano building blocks for bulk materials.

Biography:Dr. Dan Luo is currently Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Dr. Luo obtained his B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1997. He carried out his postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Cornell under Prof. Mark Saltzman. Dr. Luo joined Cornell faculty in 2001 and was promoted to full professorship in 2011. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, the Cornell Provost’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship, the SUNY (New York State) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, the Journal of Materials Chemistry Editorial Board Award, New York State Faculty Development Award (“Distinguished Professor”), College Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Basic Research, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Point-of-Care Diagnostics Grand Challenge Award. He was also selected four times by top undergraduate students as a Cornell outstanding educator. Dr. Luo was elected as a College Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 2013.

Representing papersScience Robotics (in press) (2019); Nature Plants 3, 956-64 (2017); Nature Communication 7, 12401-11 (2016); Nature Materials 13, 121-122 (2014); JACS 135, 14008-14011 (2013); Nature Nanotechnology 7, 816-820 (2012); Nature Communication 2, 587-590 (2011); Nature Nanotechnology 6, 268-276 (2011); Nature Protocols 4, 1759-1770 (2009); Nature Nanotechnology 4, 430-436 (2009); Nature Materials 8, 519-527(2009); Nature Materials   8, 432-437 (2009); Nature Nanotechnology    3, 693-696 (2008); Nature Materials 5, 797-801 (2006); Nature Protocols 1, 995-1000 (2006); Nature Biotechnology 23, 885-889 (2005); Nature Materials 3, 38-42 (2004).