Introduction to Nucleic Acid Nanotechnology

4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)

Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, seven hours. Requisites: Chemistry 20A, Life Sciences 7A, Mathematics 31B, Physics 1A. Nucleic acid nanotechnology is a field at the intersection of molecular biology, nanoscience, chemistry, and engineering. Students gain fundamental understanding of the biomolecular and chemical properties of DNA and RNA and how these properties can be exploited to build and analyze nano- and micro-sized structures for applications that range from material science to medicine. Topics include DNA and RNA structure; nucleic acid thermodynamics; design, analysis, and simulation of nucleic acid assemblies; applications of nucleic acid nanostructures. Letter grading.