DIETZ LAB

Our goal is to build ultra-miniaturized molecular devices and machines that can be combined into autonomously functioning systems ("robots") capable of executing user-defined tasks. At the moment we are primarily concerned with constructing hardware. Inspired by the structural sophistication and the rich functionalities of natural molecular motors and of viruses, we investigate how to adapt the physical principles underlying the formation of these natural objects for our purposes. Important principles are self-assembly, polymer folding and the fact that structures can be encoded in polymer building block sequences. Molecular self-assembly with DNA is an attractive route toward implementing these principles to create synthetic molecular machinery. DNA origami in particular enables building nanodevices that can already be employed for making new discoveries in biomolecular physics and protein science... Designing the sequences of biomolecules to build molecular machines and devices.

Primary location: Garching Germany