Doctoral Defence of Iris Seitz
- maryamborghei
- Jun 17
- 1 min read
Iris Seitz defended her doctoral dissertation on Wednesday, 18.6.2025, at Aalto University.
Title of the thesis: Virus-mimetic structures through protein engineering and nucleic acid origami
Opponent: Prof. Nicolas Stephanopoulos, Arizona State University, United States
Supervisor: Prof. Mauri Kostiainen, Aalto University School of Chemical Engineering
The summary of the thesis: In this work, so-called DNA origami – rigid, custom-made nanostructures entirely made from DNA – were explored for templating functional virus-mimetic structures. Specifically, the negative charge of the DNA origami, a property originating from the phosphate groups in the DNA backbone, was exploited to guide the assembly of positively charged (capsid) proteins into user-defined sizes and shapes. The assembly can be pictured like wrapping a present – the proteins assemble on top of differently shaped DNA origami, and different proteins are like different wrapping paper, thereby assigning certain properties to the protein-DNA origami assemblies, resulting in protection, targeting and enhanced uptake into cells.
The thesis will be available at: Virus-mimetic structures through protein engineering and nucleic acid origami
