Felix Boldt

Title: Teaching proteins new tricks:DNA-protein conjugation for assembly of hybrid material

Research description: Proteins and DNAs are the building blocks of nature. Protein functions are very diverse ranging from structural proteins over proteins for movement to biocatalysis. On the the other hand, DNA is the information storage for cells, but can also be used artificially to assemble nanostructures. Our goal is to combine the possibilities of proteins and DNAs to surpass nature and create bioactive conjugates. These conjugates are based on DNA and proteins which are chemically connected. Proteins and DNAs need special functional groups to conjugate them in a defined manner. Therefore this project contains organic synthesis of special DNA monomers and solid phase synthesis of DNA as well as biological engineering of proteins.