Selective Integrin αβ Targeting through Spatially Constrained Multivalent DNA-Based Nanoparticles.

Targeting cells specifically based on receptor expression levels remains an area of active research to date. Selective binding of receptors cannot be achieved by increasing the individual binding strength, as this does not account for differing distributions of receptor density across healthy and diseased cells. Engaging receptors above a threshold concentration would be desirable in devising selective diagnostics.

Engineering a stable future for DNA-origami as a biomaterial.

DNA as a biomaterial has evoked great interest as a potential platform for therapeutics and diagnostics and as hydrogel scaffolds due to the relative ease of programming its robust and uniform shape, site-specific functionality and controlled responsive behavior. However, for a stable self-assembled product, a relatively high cation concentration is required to prevent denaturation. Physiological and cell-culture conditions do not match these concentrations and present additional nucleases that cause a serious threat to the integrity of DNA-based materials.

Quantifying Guest-Host Dynamics in Supramolecular Assemblies to Analyze Their Robustness.

The most basic function of synthetic microenvironments for tissue engineering is to act as a physical substrate for cell attachment, migration, and proliferation, similar to the natural cell environment. Functionalization of supramolecular materials with guest compounds that display the same recognition moieties is a common strategy to introduce biofunctionality. However, besides a robust interaction with the material, a certain level of dynamics needs to be conserved for an adaptive interface toward the living environment.