Lifeng Zhou

Peking University College of Engineering · Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics

In recent years, the design and fabrication of nanomachines have obtained many significant achievements due to the development of chemical synthesis and bottom-up self-assembly. The rise of DNA nanomachines is one of the essential proceedings that not only broadened the research domain of mechanical science but also opened new doors for developing...

The emergence of a highly contagious novel coronavirus in 2019 led to an unprecedented need for large scale diagnostic testing. The associated challenges including reagent shortages, cost, deployment delays, and turnaround time have all highlighted the need for an alternative suite of low-cost tests. Here, we demonstrate a diagnostic test for SARS-...

DNA has shown great biocompatibility, programmable mechanical properties, and structural addressability at the nanometer scale, making it a versatile material for building high precision nanorobotics for biomedical applications. Herein, we present design principle, synthesis, and characterization of a DNA nanorobotic hand, called the “NanoGripper”,...

While nanoscale quantum emitters are effective tags for measuring biomolecular interactions, their utilities for applications that demand single-unit observations are limited by the requirements for large numerical aperture (NA) objectives, fluorescence intermittency, and poor photon collection efficiency resulted from omnidirectional emission. Her...

We present a net-shaped DNA nanostructure (called "DNA Net" herein) design strategy for selective recognition and high-affinity capture of intact SARS-CoV-2 virions through spatial pattern-matching and multivalent interactions between the aptamers (targeting wild-type spike-RBD) positioned on the DNA Net and the trimeric spike glycoproteins display...

We present a net-shaped DNA nanostructure (called "DNA Net" herein) design strategy for selective recognition and high-affinity capture of the intact SARS-CoV-2 virions through spatial pattern-matching and multivalent interactions between the aptamers (targeting wild type spike-RBD) positioned on the DNA Net and the trimeric spike glycoproteins dis...

RNA purification is a critical need in biomedical research. The development of tools for analyzing structure, function and chemical modifications of RNA have outpaced those for RNA purification. The DNA nanoswitch method is a new “catch and release” approach for targeted purification of specific RNA sequences from complex mixtures. Capture of a tar...

We report 3,000-fold signal enhancement with blinking suppression capability and single QD sensitivity using low-NA lens. Applied toward miRNA detection assays, we achieve single-base mutation selectivity, and 10-attomolar detection limit.

Nucleic acid purification is a critical aspect of biomedical research and a multibillion-dollar industry. Here we establish sequence-selective RNA capture, release, and isolation using conformationally responsive DNA nanoswitches. We validate purification of specific RNAs ranging in size from 22 to 401 nt with up to 75% recovery and 99.98% purity i...

Synonyms DNA nanomachines; DNA-based molecular machines ; DNA-based nanorobots; Dynamic DNA nanostructures Definitions DNA Mechanisms and Machines DNA mechanisms and machines are made by using DNA as materials to build the assembled links and joints. The links are formed by relatively rigid double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) bundles and the joints are con...

DNA origami is typically used to fold a long single-stranded DNA scaffold into nanostructures with complex geometries using many short DNA staple strands. Integration of RNA into nucleic acid nanostructures is also possible, but has been less studied. In this research, we designed and characterized a hybrid RNA-scaffolded origami nanostructure with...

A one-pot fluorescence-based assay detects SARS-CoV-2 RNA in under an hour with high sensitivity and sequence specificity.

The ability to apply controlled forces to individual molecules has been revolutionary in shaping our understanding of biophysics in areas as diverse as dynamic bond strength, biological motor operation, and DNA replication. However, the methodology to perform single-molecule experiments remains relatively inaccessible because of cost and complexity...

Detection of viruses is critical for controlling disease spread. Recent emerging viral threats, including Zika virus, Ebola virus, and SARS-CoV-2 responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) highlight the cost and difficulty in responding rapidly. To address these challenges, we develop a platform for low-cost and rapid detection of viral RN...

The ability to apply controlled forces to individual molecules has been revolutionary in shaping our understanding of biophysics in areas as diverse as dynamic bond strength, biological motor operation, and DNA replication. However, the methodology to perform single-molecule experiments has been and remains relatively inaccessible due to cost and c...

We report a novel method to purify individual RNA species using programmable DNA nanoswitches to facilitate RNA capture, release, and isolation. We validate sequence-based purification of microRNA, rRNA, and an mRNA fragment from total RNA, demonstrate multiplexing with two different RNA species, and show an application with downstream LC/MS analys...

Viral detection is critical for controlling disease spread and progression. Recent emerging threats including the Zika and Ebola virus outbreaks highlight the cost and difficulty in responding rapidly. In low-resource areas, a key obstacle is quick and accurate detection of viruses near the point of care. To address these challenges, we develop a p...

Correction for ‘Click and photo-release dual-functional nucleic acid nanostructures’ by Vibhav A. Valsangkar et al. , Chem. Commun. , 2019, DOI: 10.1039/c9cc03806j.

MicroRNAs are involved in the crucial processes of development and diseases and have emerged as a new class of biomarkers. The field of DNA nanotech-nology has shown great promise in the creation of novel microRNA biosensors that have utility in lab-based biosensing and potential for disease diagnos-tics. In this Survey and Summary, we explore and...

MicroRNAs are short noncoding regulatory RNAs that are increasingly used as disease biomarkers. Detection of microRNAs can be arduous and expensive and often requires amplification, labeling, or radioactive probes. Here, we report a single-step, nonenzymatic microRNA detection assay using conformationally responsive DNA nanoswitches. Termed miRacle...

Significant progress in DNA nanotechnology has accelerated the development of molecular machines with functions like macroscale machines. However, the mobility of DNA self‐assembled nanorobots is still dramatically limited due to challenges with designing and controlling nanoscale systems with many degrees of freedom. Here, an origami‐inspired meth...

The ability to design and control DNA nanodevices with programmed conformational changes has established a foundation for molecular scale robotics with applications in nanomanufacturing, drug delivery, and controlling enzymatic reactions. The most commonly used approach for actuating these devices, DNA binding and strand displacement, allows device...

MicroRNAs are short non-coding regulatory RNAs that are increasingly used as disease biomarkers. Detection of microRNAs can be arduous and expensive, and often requires amplification, labeling, or radioactive probes. Here we report a single-step, non-enzymatic detection assay using conformationally responsive DNA nanoswitches. Termed miRacles ( mi...

Scaffolded DNA origami has proven to be a powerful and efficient technique to fabricate functional nanomachines by programming the folding of a single-stranded DNA template strand into three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures, designed to be precisely motion-controlled. Although two-dimensional (2D) imaging of DNA nanomachines using transmission elect...

Deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) origami nanotechnology is a recently developed self-Assembly process for design and fabrication of complex three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures using DNA as a functional material. This paper reviews our recent progress in applying DNA origami to design kinematic mechanisms at the nanometer scale. These nanomechanisms...

In this paper, a new method called “projection kinematics” is presented for the determination of 3D configurations of DNA Origami Mechanisms (DOM) based on a single 2D projected image. The method enables finding all possible projected configurations of a DOM in space by solving the projection kinematics equations based on the minimum needed informa...

Molecular self-assembly has become a well-established technique to design complex nanostructures and hierarchical mesoscale assemblies. The typical approach is to design binding complementarity into nucleotide or amino acid sequences to achieve the desired final geometry. However, with an increasing interest in dynamic nanodevices, the need to desi...

In this paper, we introduce a strategy for the design and computational analysis of compliant DNA origami mechanism (CDOM), which are compliant nanomechanisms fabricated with DNA origami self-assembly. The rigid, compliant and flexible parts are constructed by bundles of many double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) helices, bundles of a few dsDNA helices or a...

DNA origami nanotechnology is a recently developed self-assembly process for design and fabrication of complex 3D nanostructures using DNA as functional materials. This paper aims to review our recent progress in applying DNA origami to design of kinematic mechanisms of nanometer scale. These nanomechanisms, which we call DNA Origami Mechanisms (DO...

In this paper, we introduce the strategy of designing and analyzing compliant nanomechanisms fabricated with DNA origami which we call compliant DNA origami mechanism (CDOM). The rigid, compliant and flexible parts are constructed by a bunch of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) helices, fewer dsDNA helices and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) strands respecti...

Structural DNA nanotechnology provides a feasible technique for the design and fabrication of complex geometries even exhibiting controllable dynamic behavior. Recently we have demonstrated the possibility of implementing macroscopic engineering design approaches to construct DNA origami mechanisms (DOM) with programmable motion and tunable flexibi...

Structural DNA nanotechnology is a rapidly emerging field that has demonstrated great potential for applications such as single molecule sensing, drug delivery, and templating molecular components. As the applications of DNA nanotechnology expand, a consideration of their mechanical behavior is becoming essential to understand how these structures...

Significance Folding DNA into complex 3D shapes (DNA origami) has emerged as a powerful method for the precise design and fabrication of self-assembled nanodevices. Current efforts have focused largely on developing static objects or structures with small movements and/or unspecified motion paths. Here we establish a basis for developing DNA-based...

A novel pure rolling cycloid planetary gear reducer is presented in this paper, which has a character of pin wheels' pure rolling. It can eliminate the sliding friction between pin wheels and gears, and gain high transmission efficiency. The motion status of pin wheels in traditional dual-cycloid gear reducer is analysed in detail. Under the condit...

DNA origami enables fabrication of precise nanostructures by programming the self-assembly of DNA. While this approach has been used to make a variety of complex 2D and 3D objects, the mechanical functionality of these structures is limited due to their rigid nature. We explore the fabrication of deformable, or compliant, objects to establish a fra...

Mobility analysis is one of fundamental problems in kinematics and an important tool in type synthesis of linkages. In this paper, we will review screw theory as a mathematical tool for mobility analysis of overconstrained linkages and compliant mechanisms. Established by Ball in late 1800, screw theory has become one of the fundamental theories fo...

A novel pure rolling cycloid planetary gear reducer is presented in this paper. It has a character of pin wheels pure rolling. It can eliminate the sliding friction between pin wheels and gears, gain high transmission efficiency. The motion status of pin wheels in traditional dual-cycloid gear reducer is analyzed in detail. Under the condition of p...