Final Report Summary - NATURE NANODEVICES (Nature-inspired theranostic nanodevices for tumor imaging, early diagnosis and targeted drug-release)
The overriding goal of the project “Nature Nanodevices” was to mimic Nature in the design of novel nucleic acid based nanodevices that detect cancer, provide detection-driven therapy, and monitor treatment efficacy. One of the main objectives of the project was thus to design, engineer and optimize highly specific biomolecular nanodevices that undergo binding induced conformational changes upon target binding and, in doing so, signal the presence of the cancer marker (Aim I) or release a therapeutic cargo (Aim II). The final objective was also to couple these events in a single platform to develop a theranostic nanodevice capable of smart drug release and treatment monitoring. The project proposes to use different switching mechanisms and to target a wide range of tumor markers and to test the targeted drug-release efficiency with different therapeutics including aptamers, siRNA and DNA binders. Another important goal of the project was to apply a “synthetic biology” view and exploit and mimic several naturally occurring mechanisms (e.g. allostery, cooperativity etc.) to optimize the signalling output and drug release efficiency of the nanodevices (Aim III).
During the project I achieved very important results in all the three above described aims of the project demonstrating DNA-based nanomachines and nanodevices that respond to a wide range of molecular inputs (proteins, antibodies, pH, temperature, small molecules) and that can be finely controlled through different nature-inspired mechanisms (allostery, cooperativity, out-of-equilibrium).
The above results were published in more than 30 papers all in highly rated peer-reviewed journals (JACS, Nano Letters, Angewandte Chemie, Nature Communications) and received important media attention.
During the project I was able to carry on a very inter and cross disciplinary research.
I was able to interact with different collaborators involved in different research fields. This allowed to achieve important results which span a wide range of disciplines.
During the project and as planned in the DoA, I have organized three international workshops entitled “Functional DNA Nanotechnology”. The workshops were funded through the ERC grant and were organized also in collaboration with other ERC grantee (Tim Liedl).
The results of the project were also crucial to achieve international awards. The most important are the 2017 ACS “Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship” Award and the Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award on Analytical Science. The young members of the group also received many recognitions during the project as a further proof of the high quality of research that has been carried out through the ERC funding.
In conclusion, the ERC Starting Grant was an extremely important part for my career to reach independency and to establish myself as a recognized researcher in the field of DNA Nanotechnology.
During the project I achieved very important results in all the three above described aims of the project demonstrating DNA-based nanomachines and nanodevices that respond to a wide range of molecular inputs (proteins, antibodies, pH, temperature, small molecules) and that can be finely controlled through different nature-inspired mechanisms (allostery, cooperativity, out-of-equilibrium).
The above results were published in more than 30 papers all in highly rated peer-reviewed journals (JACS, Nano Letters, Angewandte Chemie, Nature Communications) and received important media attention.
During the project I was able to carry on a very inter and cross disciplinary research.
I was able to interact with different collaborators involved in different research fields. This allowed to achieve important results which span a wide range of disciplines.
During the project and as planned in the DoA, I have organized three international workshops entitled “Functional DNA Nanotechnology”. The workshops were funded through the ERC grant and were organized also in collaboration with other ERC grantee (Tim Liedl).
The results of the project were also crucial to achieve international awards. The most important are the 2017 ACS “Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship” Award and the Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award on Analytical Science. The young members of the group also received many recognitions during the project as a further proof of the high quality of research that has been carried out through the ERC funding.
In conclusion, the ERC Starting Grant was an extremely important part for my career to reach independency and to establish myself as a recognized researcher in the field of DNA Nanotechnology.