William M Shih, PhD
Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber
Professor, Harvard Medical School
Founding Core Faculty, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
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Novel Method for Large-Scale Production of Long Single-Stranded DNA
Project Overview
- Beyond its biological importance, DNA has various material science applications. One example includes DNA origami nanostructures that have promising applications as drug delivery vehicles, computing, and diagnostics, etc.
- Dana-Farber scientists have developed a method to produce long single-stranded DNA strands at low cost, with high purity, and large quantity previously underachieved by other methods.=
- This technology is available for licensing to a commercial partner.
Technology
The technology is a novel method for an inexpensive and scalable production of single- stranded DNA (ssDNA) strands with sequence lengths of up to several thousand nucleotides. The method relies on the sequestration of acrylamide-labelled double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) by copolymerization with acrylamide monomers, followed by de-hybridization of the polymer-linked dsDNA strands, and subsequent separation of the released ssDNA from the high-molecular-weight copolymer. The final step is made feasible by new methods for efficient separation of the acrylamide copolymer from free ssDNA strands in solution.
Benefits of the technology include:
- Production of DNA origami, in which a long strand of DNA can be programmed to fold in on itself to create specific shape, will enable the growth of this technology beyond academic research to mass production and commercial applications.
- Can be used as an upstream process to facilitate direct DNA sequencing with very long read lengths.
- Can enable screening of large ssDNA libraries for deoxyribozyme activities or aptamer binding, for instance via systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX).
- Large-scale ssDNA production may possibly enable new DNA-based therapeutics (e.g., antisense) for treating cancer, HIV, diabetes, and other diseases.
- The DNA-acrylamide copolymers can be used for selective capture and release of a large variety of DNA-labelled target systems which enables a wide range of biotechnological applications.
Team Members: William M Shih, PhD, Moritz Elisha Krieg, PhD
Applications
DNA is widely used as a programmable material in bionanotechnology, with applications in diagnostics and therapeutics. Many of these applications demand highly pure, long single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). However, commercially available long ssDNA with high purity and or high yield are expensive and involve troublesome protocols to purify ssDNA with high yield.
Opportunities
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is seeking a commercial partner/licensing for this technology.
Team Members
Moritz Elisha Krieg, PhD
Former Postdoctoral Fellow, Dana-Farber and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
