Distinguished iNANO Lecture by Ass. Prof. Shelly Wickham, The University of Sydney

Associate Professor Shelly Wickham, Schools of Chemistry and Physics, The University of Sydney

Dynamic DNA nanomachines and synthetic cells 

DNA nanotechnology provides strategies to design self-assembling nanostructures, with applications in material science and nanomedicine. We are using DNA to design and build reconfigurable nanomaterials, providing modular components for nanorobotic systems. Applications include programmable lipid-interacting nanostructures for cell-cell communication. We are also designing DNA interactions to drive liquid-liquid phase separation for building synthetic cells. This approach allows us to address fundamental questions on the origins of life, such as understanding how simple changes in material properties can lead to cell-like functions.

Image provided by speaker.

BIO:
Shelley Wickham is Associate Professor in Chemistry and Physics at the University of Sydney. She received her PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Oxford, UK, working on building synthetic molecular motors out of DNA. She was then a postdoc at Harvard Medical School, designing 3-dimensional DNA origami nanostructures to study biological systems. Her research group focuses on self-assembling nanotechnology and molecular robotics, with applications in cell biology, materials science, nanomedicine and synthetic cells.