Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Time: 11:00 am
Talk Title: Thermodynamics of DNA looping for origami folding
Zoom Recording

Abstract:
DNA-based self-assembly provides an exciting materials platform with which to build composite nanostructures impossible to fabricate with top-down techniques. In metals, defects contribute only a small fraction of the system free energy, but control material microstructure and properties. In DNA origami, where the scaffold molecule is forcibly routed into a predetermined shape, conformational energy contributions are small compared to those of sequence dependent base pairing and base stacking but control assembly properties.
I have worked to improve metrology of DNA self-assembly thermodynamics, by leveraging high throughput qPCR equipment and by improving melt curve analysis, in order to inform the development of predictive models.
I will present our work on melt curve analysis, its application to single fold loop thermodynamics, and the role of excess reactants in forming blocked states. I will also briefly present preliminary results of our inter-fold cooperativity studies and on applications of DNA nanofabrication at NIST.
Biography:
Jacob Majikes obtained his PhD in materials science under Thom LaBean at NC State University and is a research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the microsystems and nanofabrication division working with Alex Liddle. He is generally interested in the engineering of the free energy landscape in programmed self-assembly for nanofabrication as well as in improving the accessibility of DNA nanofabrication techniques.