SPECIFIC DNA SEQUENCE RESPONISIVE DNA CROSSLINKED HYDROGEL AND ITS APPLICATIONS
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Date
2017-07-20
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
In the first theme of the thesis, we show hydrogel architectures photopatterned
by DNA co-polymer that can be actuated by up to three different DNA sequence. The
hydrogel architectures show great shape change accurately at the region we design after
the specific biomolecular signal is applied to the system. This combination of
microfabrication technology with DNA nanotechnology allow us to build tiny soft
devices or soft robots that can be actuated by particular DNA sequence.
The second theme of this thesis is generating DNA crosslinked microgel
through microfluidic methods. To apply the method, we first form emulsion droplets
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out of microfluidic device then solidify the droplets by subsequent UV triggered
polymerization. In this droplets generating process, by tuning the flow rate of the
continuous phase and the dispersed phase, microfluidic generation of droplets can be
well controlled over size and monodispersity. With this strategy, we can generate a
great amount of microgels with uniform spherical geometry in a relatively simpler
process and a faster speed than microfabrication and template particle synthesis.
Description
Keywords
DNA, Hydrogel