Phd in Dna Nanotechnology and Bottom-up Synthetic - Cambridge, United Kingdom - University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

Verified Company

Cambridge, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

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Description

The group of Dr Lorenzo Di Michele at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology of the University of Cambridge is looking to recruit a PhD student to carry out experimental work at the interface of nucleic acid nanotechnology and bottom-up synthetic biology.

Bottom-up synthetic biology aims at constructing artificial cells, micron-scale entities that replicate typical functionalities of biological cells, such as regulated metabolism, communication and adaptation to their environment.

Artificial cells offer vast applicability as biosensing systems and nanomedical devices, while helping researchers to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying biological complexity in a simplified setting.

Nucleic acid nanotechnology enables exquisite control over the structure and dynamic response of nanoscale objects constructed from synthetic DNA/RNA molecules, making it ideal to produce nanomachines and structural elements that mimic biology, and can thus be applied in the context of artificial-cell research.

This PhD project aims a developing new DNA/RNA-nanotech tools for bottom-up synthetic biology, including (but not limited to) stimuli-responsive cell-like architectures and sensing/communication platforms.

The student will design responsive nucleic acid nanosystems (aided by computer tools), assemble and characterise them in the lab, and finally integrate them with synthetic cellular mimics.

Depending on the student's interests and skillset, experiments may be complemented by theoretical analysis and coarse-grained computer simulations.

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