Dr. Nadrian Seeman received a B.S. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Biological Crystallography. He has published over 200 papers. He presented a talk entitled “It’s more than the secret of life: Building with DNA”.

Seeman lamented that he is a working scientist, and therefore his work does not progress as fast as he would like it to. Some of the ideas he has had from the 1980’s still have not come to pass, but he is okay with that.

DNA is such great material that it has out-rivaled all the competition as the material used for genes. Reciprocal exchange, where DNA exchanges pieces of itself with another molecule in order to come up with a new strain takes place in the double helical context. Sequence symmetry is minimized through the use of branched junctions which can be used in 5, 6, 8, and 12 arm junctions. Twenty-seven years after the beginning of his work, Seeman is still working on a good crystal in order to use his theory regarding DNA crystallography. DNA comes with its own set of assembly instructions known as sticky end cohesion which utilizes hydrogen bonding. The structure of the molecule dictates where certain proteins are in the DNA. The central concept of structural DNA nanotechnology is combining branched DNA with sticky ends to make objects, lattices, and devices, using DNA as bricks and mortar or just as mortar. Seeman would like to be able to architecturally control scaffolding, as well as make nanotech devices. Currently crystallography is primarily guess work and is not as successful as it could be. If scientists could better organizing biological macromolecules they could create nano-electric components.

Why would we use DNA? The two key reasons are predictable molecular interactions and designing the shape by selecting a sequence. Seeman’s lab would like to control the structure of matter in 3D to the highest resolution possible so as to understand the ways that matter interacts with matter in the macro- and micro-scales

Xing Wang has come up with 8 and 12 arm junctions. These connected lattices may derive a variety of shapes. The requirements of lattice design components include:

• predictable interactions
• predicable local product structures
• structural integrity

Seeman has been able to create 2D, 2X arrays that look similar to rotini pasta. Robust arrays of DX triangles were devised by Boaquin Ding around 1996. When there are two of the arrays, they can be arranged to from large parallelograms and larger arrays in 2D. The lesson learned has been that DX cohesion is much more robust than a double sticky end. Many “wild” motifs can be configured this way in 2D.

Progress towards 3D arrays has advanced in the last few years. The best so far has been 3D trigonal DX lattices using X-ray diffraction in 10 angstrom resolution. The original tensegrity triangle shows an over-under motif, but the resolution is still along 10 angstroms although why this is the case is still unknown.

Chemistry can be diversified using nylon-DNA. The basic idea is using DNA to control molecular topography. The first base they made took about seven years to create and the second one took about four, so there is hope, Seeman said, that they may make the third one while he is still alive. The structure of the shortest piece of nylon is dictated by the DNA; two motifs can organize nanoparticles known as DNAzyme in 5 to 10 nm particles.

From genes to machines: using nano devices

A B-Z device has been configured using B and Z DNA, each of which is either left-handed or right-handed. However, the device does not take advantage of the strengths of DNA.

A sequence dependent device, on the other hand, does make use of the strengths of DNA when ordered in a particular sequence. This system is much more robust than the previously mentioned system. The device is connected to DNA trapezoid, and there is evidence for its viability by rearranging orientation.

Translation using nanomachinery in a ribosome like device

Translation introduced diversity into the RNA world, so DNA nanotech may make this a possibility in controlled conditions.

Conclusions

When in doubt, DNA is far more robust and better controlled than RNA. DNA, for many purposes, may also not be the best material to use, but it is great for prototyping these things to see if we can create these self assembly features anyway. DNA is still the easiest to use. It is easy to design and acquire, and the parameters are easier to maintain.

Jason McCoy is the Vice President of Global Seawater, Inc., a for-profit firm. They are developing a globalized system for agriculture and aquaculture in order to provide immediate and long lasting planetary ecological balance.

The lecture presented today was called “Greening the Deserts of Earth”. The firm explores many biotechnology approaches to global concerns. They believe that there are many serious environmental concerns that will become more dire over the course of the century which include but are not limited to global warming and sea level rising. McCoy and his group believe these problems will be solvable by future technologies that will help make the world a better place for everyone.

McCoy said that based on scientific evidence, humans have in fact had an impact on warming of the earth and other environmental challenges that we will face in the near future, but he was not sure exactly what impact we have had. He discussed the projection of sea level rise in the next few years to 2100. There are many challenges that this will present, including environmental concerns, available water sources, corrosion, population, sustainable food production, energy, and deforestation. “Wars of the future will be fought over water,” and not over fuel sources, McCoy stated.

McCoy proposes an Integrated Seawater System (ISS) that requires seawater, desert coasts, and sunlight. Almost every country in the world can fit these requirements. ISS has three components itself: aquaculture, agriculture, and forestry/wetlands. The agriculture component specifically pertains to plants known as halophytes that like water of high salinity and can double as food and fuel sources while reducing the human carbon footprint. Mangroves in particular fit the bill for an alternative sustainable approach to agriculture. The integration of ISS into national infrastructure would make the “reliance on fresh water no longer the threat that it has always been. It gives the world a new agriculture, new food sources, and a new site specific wealth generation tool.”

This project has been tested in a 1000 hectare integrated seawater system in Massawa, Eritrea. This country is one of the poorest and youngest in Africa. In 2003 the project in Massawa was closed due to political instability, but the project continues to be tested for viability in Northern Sonora. Unfortunately, McCoy said, the places that are most in need of these new technologies are the ones that are most likely to abuse monetarily the outcomes.

Key benefits of ISS:

• Greening the deserts by transforming them into wetlands and forests.
• Reducing the impact of Global Warming in a relatively short time period
• Economic development

The firm produces SeaForest BioDiesel as well. The idea is to shift fuel production to a “more sustainable, renewable approach to avoid an increase in global food prices for individuals in poor developing nations.” The production of this fuel does not compete with food production (corn, soy) for water as they use only salt water.

Biotechnology Applications:

• Hybrid cultivators to drastically enhance product yields
• Molecular marker assisted selections
• Gene knock-down
• Gene transfer

Future Implications:

• Economic Development
• Energy Security
• BioTech and IP
• Environmental Impact
• Sustainable Business Models

Dr. Behrooz Dehdashti has a Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Biology and is currently a senior research analyst at the University of Arizona. He is working on the development of the Syncardia Total Artificial Heart.

Dehdashti said that advanced complex atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is a therapeutic challenge, poorly treated by angioplasty and bypass surgery. Many options have been used to treat this condition, but the major problems include rejection by the body and degenerative issues. Dehdashti outlined the many different therapies that have been in use or that are being tested right now, and the challenges that they pose to the affected person, taking special care to outline scar density due to various therapies.

Transmyocardial channeling, which is performed via catheter, may be readily performed and is apparently feasible according to research conducted by Dehdashti and his team. This entails drilling little holes within the heart muscle, and allowing the heart to sprout new blood vessels via angiogenesis around nano-tubes that are placed in strategic areas. Angiogenesis would be stimulated by the injection of various growth factors and polymers. With the advent of nanotech, the polymers used in this therapy may become readily available, therefore making this area of research viable in the real world. This model has in fact been performed in four human patients to date. The criteria for approving the patient required at least one included vessel and much chest pain. Dr. Dehdashti said “Mechanical TMC combined with a sixty day period of myocardial healing provides significant protection to the LV myocardium in the setting of acute ischemic challenge.”

Lisa Hopper is CEO and Founder of World Care, a non-profit organization. She has a BS in Radiology Administration and Physics from George Washington University. In 1997, she put all of her retirement savings into World Care and devoted herself full time to developing the organization.

In reference to her work in foreign countries Hopper said “It is not about the medicine that we are bringing people; it is about the education that we bring to these communities.” The World Care dream manifests itself in these words, as she has taken resources that she can procure from Tucson, Arizona (i.e. school supplies that university students donated to the cause, money, and manpower) and brings them to third world countries. “We have both problems here and abroad, it often is about distribution.” Distribution is essentially what she does. She takes the “waste” of our country and deposits them in places of need. Instead of giving just school supplies, she has created infrastructures for schools, libraries, and hospitals in these places of need using a five year plan. “There is a check and balance associated with what we are doing,” she said. “Are we helping people, or are we hurting them?” Hopper makes sure that the help that is provided to people in need is available and lasting, thus creating stability in these environments. She is part of the nuclear weapon disarmament program in North Korea, and thus she gives supplies to NK every time they disarm a potentially devastating weapon. She has been to Honduras, Indonesia during the tsunami, and other areas of need after major disasters.

The following question was posed: How did you get from World Care to nanotechnology?

Hopper said that the idea of nanotech appeals to her background in physics, but more importantly it is an idea that what we do has an effect on everyone. The prospect of cheap energy, molecular manufacturing, and space travel excites her very much. “Transportation of goods from one location to another takes a lot of resources and energy.” She said “How do we get high-level knowledge, development, and understanding to everyone? Nanotechnology has tremendous opportunity for the world, and especially the humanitarian world. With over one billion people in the world living in poverty, free energy, clean water, and housing are very important issues.” Hopper argued that the ramifications of the things we are doing today may be good at first, but alter environments and economies irreparable. She gave as an example of desalination of water; it is good to drink, but starts to kill the wild life around the area where salt is actually taken out of the water.

The potential destruction that nanotech poses is what Hopper is essentially worried about. There are many good things that will absolutely come out of these brand new technologies, but we need governance.

Image caption: Simone Syed (and Michael Anissimov of Accelerating Future) at the Nano/Bio 2007 conference.

My day:

I am very excited to be attending the Nano/Bio Conference 2007 put on by World Care and CRN (Center for Responsible Nanotechnology). I was allowed to come to this conference on scholarship after Lisa Hopper, the conferences organizer and visionary, found out that I was a student and an active member of h+, a transhumanist club at the University of Arizona. The conference is very small, she told me. A total of 37 people have signed up as of this morning. As I walk into the room, I am told that this is an interactive conference; a question and answer format will be prevalent throughout the four days of lectures and workshops, which excites me. I love interactive formats, and small and closed groups where I can meet and talk to people I may actually like to be friends with. I immediate sat down next to a boy about my age, and as he introduced himself to me, I realized that I know him online. He is an editorial assistant for Kurzweil Industries, which is pretty freaking cool. Michael Anissimov is my ‘friend’ on the transhumanist network and it turns out that he knows quite a bit about our h+ club! Michael explains that h+ is the most active student transhumanist club that he has come across. Go, us! I have also met another woman, by the name of Cairn Idun, whose husband has been cryonically suspended. At 8:30 Lisa Hopper opens with her presentation on the beginnings of World Care.

I was interested to learn this morning that biologists no longer divide all life into two cellular kingdoms; they divide life into three kingdoms. When I took college biology as recently as the mid-1990s, teachers and textbooks were still stating that all life could be divided into the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cellular kingdoms (we belong to the eukaryotic kingdom because our cells have nuclei among other internal structures that bacteria in the prokaryotic kingdom do not).

The new kingdom was discovered in the late-1970s when research revealed some microorganisms that resembled bacteria but were as different from bacteria as we are. These organisms are the Archaea, and include the interesting little critters of the world that live in the most hostile environments such as hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. The current three kingdom theory of life is only now beginning to show up in textbooks and is not generally taught in schools. I discovered this information on the great The Phylogeny of Life website published by the University of California Berkeley.