BE Seminar – Peng Yin, “DNA-based molecular measurement tools”

Abstract: Biological organisms are fundamentally organized molecular systems. To study such systems, we use synthetic DNA polymers to develop precise molecular measurement tools. I will describe examples that advance the performance and accessibility of spatial, single-cell, and single-molecule analyses, including (1) nano-imaging with molecular resolution and precise quantification, (2) scalable, high-plex protein and RNA imaging across micrometer- to millimeter-thick biospecimens with in situ signal amplification, (3) spatially prescribed full transcriptome sequencing in intact tissues, and (4) separation-free protein detection in biofluids with single-molecule level sensitivity via engineered kinetic proofreading. 

Peng Yin is a Professor in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Peng’s lab uses synthetic DNA/RNA to construct, manipulate, Peng is a Professor in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Peng’s lab uses synthetic DNA/RNA to construct, manipulate, and visualize nanoscale structures. They have developed a general framework to program DNA/RNA strands to self-assemble into structures with user-specified geometry or dynamics. By interfacing these nanostructures with other functional entities (e.g. fluorophores, proteins, inorganics, living cells), they have introduced digital programmability into diverse application areas, e.g. fabrication of inorganic nanoparticles with user-prescribed shapes, robust DNA/RNA probes with near optimal binding specificity for detecting single-base genetic changes, RNA-based synthetic regulators with unprecedented dynamic range and orthogonality for complex programming of protein translation in living cells and on paper-based systems, and highly multiplexed (10+), precisely quantitative (90%+ precision), ultra-high resolution (< 5 nm) super-resolution imaging using DNA-PAINT.