Using DNA to program the self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles and microparticles

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Benjamin Rogers ◽  
William M. Shih ◽  
Vinothan N. Manoharan
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 1416-1424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Falin Tian ◽  
Min Zhang ◽  
Tiefeng Li ◽  
Xueqian Kong ◽  
...  

The geometry of the organic ligands on colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) is central for understanding the self-assembly behavior and many properties of NP-based soft matter.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Grijalvo ◽  
Gustavo Puras ◽  
Jon Zárate ◽  
Myriam Sainz-Ramos ◽  
Nuseibah A. L. Qtaish ◽  
...  

Cationic niosomes have become important non-viral vehicles for transporting a good number of small drug molecules and macromolecules. Growing interest shown by these colloidal nanoparticles in therapy is determined by their structural similarities to liposomes. Cationic niosomes are usually obtained from the self-assembly of non-ionic surfactant molecules. This process can be governed not only by the nature of such surfactants but also by others factors like the presence of additives, formulation preparation and properties of the encapsulated hydrophobic or hydrophilic molecules. This review is aimed at providing recent information for using cationic niosomes for gene delivery purposes with particular emphasis on improving the transportation of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), small interference RNAs (siRNAs), aptamers and plasmids (pDNA).


Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Cheng Chen ◽  
Liheng Zheng ◽  
Fucheng Guo ◽  
Zheyu Fang ◽  
Limin Qi

Programing the self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles into predetermined superstructures represents an attractive strategy to realize functional assemblies and novel nanodevices, but it remains a challenge. Herein, gold nanoarrows (GNAs) showing a distinct convex-concave structure were employed as unique building blocks for programmable self-assembly involving multiple assembly modes. Regioselective adsorption of 1,10-decanedithiol on the vertexes, edges, and facets of GNAs allowed for programmable self-assembly of GNAs with five distinct assembly modes, and regioselective blocking with 1-dodecanethiol followed by adsorption of 1,10-decanedithiol gave rise to programmable self-assembly with six assembly modes including three novel wing-engaged modes. The assembly mode was essentially determined by regioselective adsorption of the dithiol linker dictated by the local curvature together with the shape complementarity of GNAs. This approach reveals how the geometric morphology of nanoparticles affects their regioselective functionalization and drives their self-assembly.


Author(s):  
M. Kessel ◽  
R. MacColl

The major protein of the blue-green algae is the biliprotein, C-phycocyanin (Amax = 620 nm), which is presumed to exist in the cell in the form of distinct aggregates called phycobilisomes. The self-assembly of C-phycocyanin from monomer to hexamer has been extensively studied, but the proposed next step in the assembly of a phycobilisome, the formation of 19s subunits, is completely unknown. We have used electron microscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation in combination with a method for rapid and gentle extraction of phycocyanin to study its subunit structure and assembly.To establish the existence of phycobilisomes, cells of P. boryanum in the log phase of growth, growing at a light intensity of 200 foot candles, were fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde in 0.1M cacodylate buffer, pH 7.0, for 3 hours at 4°C. The cells were post-fixed in 1% OsO4 in the same buffer overnight. Material was stained for 1 hour in uranyl acetate (1%), dehydrated and embedded in araldite and examined in thin sections.


Author(s):  
Xiaorong Zhu ◽  
Richard McVeigh ◽  
Bijan K. Ghosh

A mutant of Bacillus licheniformis 749/C, NM 105 exhibits some notable properties, e.g., arrest of alkaline phosphatase secretion and overexpression and hypersecretion of RS protein. Although RS is known to be widely distributed in many microbes, it is rarely found, with a few exceptions, in laboratory cultures of microorganisms. RS protein is a structural protein and has the unusual properties to form aggregate. This characteristic may have been responsible for the self assembly of RS into regular tetragonal structures. Another uncommon characteristic of RS is that enhanced synthesis and secretion which occurs when the cells cease to grow. Assembled RS protein with a tetragonal structure is not seen inside cells at any stage of cell growth including cells in the stationary phase of growth. Gel electrophoresis of the culture supernatant shows a very large amount of RS protein in the stationary culture of the B. licheniformis. It seems, Therefore, that the RS protein is cotranslationally secreted and self assembled on the envelope surface.


MRS Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (64) ◽  
pp. 3507-3520
Author(s):  
Chunhui Dai ◽  
Kriti Agarwal ◽  
Jeong-Hyun Cho

AbstractNanoscale self-assembly, as a technique to transform two-dimensional (2D) planar patterns into three-dimensional (3D) nanoscale architectures, has achieved tremendous success in the past decade. However, an assembly process at nanoscale is easily affected by small unavoidable variations in sample conditions and reaction environment, resulting in a low yield. Recently, in-situ monitored self-assembly based on ion and electron irradiation has stood out as a promising candidate to overcome this limitation. The usage of ion and electron beam allows stress generation and real-time observation simultaneously, which significantly enhances the controllability of self-assembly. This enables the realization of various complex 3D nanostructures with a high yield. The additional dimension of the self-assembled 3D nanostructures opens the possibility to explore novel properties that cannot be demonstrated in 2D planar patterns. Here, we present a rapid review on the recent achievements and challenges in nanoscale self-assembly using electron and ion beam techniques, followed by a discussion of the novel optical properties achieved in the self-assembled 3D nanostructures.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Contini ◽  
Russell Pearson ◽  
Linge Wang ◽  
Lea Messager ◽  
Jens Gaitzsch ◽  
...  

<div><div><div><p>We report the design of polymersomes using a bottom-up approach where the self-assembly of amphiphilic copolymers poly(2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl phosphorylcholine)–poly(2-(diisopropylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (PMPC-PDPA) into membranes is tuned using pH and temperature. We study this process in detail using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and stop-flow ab- sorbance disclosing the molecular and supramolecular anatomy of each structure observed. We report a clear evolution from disk micelles to vesicle to high-genus vesicles where each passage is controlled by pH switch or temperature. We show that the process can be rationalised adapting membrane physics theories disclosing important scaling principles that allow the estimation of the vesiculation minimal radius as well as chain entanglement and coupling. This allows us to propose a new approach to generate nanoscale vesicles with genus from 0 to 70 which have been very elusive and difficult to control so far.</p></div></div></div>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Contini ◽  
Russell Pearson ◽  
Linge Wang ◽  
Lea Messager ◽  
Jens Gaitzsch ◽  
...  

<div><div><div><p>We report the design of polymersomes using a bottom-up approach where the self-assembly of amphiphilic copolymers poly(2-(methacryloyloxy) ethyl phosphorylcholine)–poly(2-(diisopropylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (PMPC-PDPA) into membranes is tuned using pH and temperature. We study this process in detail using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and stop-flow ab- sorbance disclosing the molecular and supramolecular anatomy of each structure observed. We report a clear evolution from disk micelles to vesicle to high-genus vesicles where each passage is controlled by pH switch or temperature. We show that the process can be rationalised adapting membrane physics theories disclosing important scaling principles that allow the estimation of the vesiculation minimal radius as well as chain entanglement and coupling. This allows us to propose a new approach to generate nanoscale vesicles with genus from 0 to 70 which have been very elusive and difficult to control so far.</p></div></div></div>


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