ERC Synergy Grant for nanomachinery project using light to manipulate DNA nanostructures

Being able to build nanomachinery has been a persistent dream across science fiction. With a new European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant, Cavendish researchers and their collaborators in Munich and Heidelberg (Germany) will try to make it a reality.

To do this, the team uses the ability to knit strands of DNA into rigid structures less than a ten millionth of a metre across, which can form a skeleton, and aim to combine these with polymer ‘muscles’ which can be triggered by light.

This forms the basis of mechanical devices shrunk down to the nano-scale, that are optically controlled. “Essentially we will pluck DNA with lasers, and listen to their snap,” said Cavendish Laboratory’s Prof Jeremy Baumberg, who leads the project.

Such DNA nano-opto-mechanical devices have a plethora of applications beyond machines, including sensors, and low energy computing. “This way of constructing functional materials is also a key part of our sustainable future, as the DNA can be disassembled and reused, unlike every other materials technology so far,” said Baumberg.

The project brings together Prof Jeremy J Baumberg at Cambridge, with Prof Tim Liedl in Munich and Prof Peer Fischer in Heidelberg, each combining their research specialities to make this concept viable. Additional collaborators include Prof Ulrich Keyser in Cambridge, and Rachel O’Reilly at Birmingham. It is one of the five new collaborative projects led by the University of Cambridge that will tackle some of science’s toughest puzzles.

The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. The ERC Synergy Grants foster collaboration between outstanding researchers, enabling them to combine their expertise, knowledge and resources to push the boundaries of scientific discovery. This funding is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.