Session V2: Constrained Polymers

8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Thursday, March 19, 2009
- Spirit of Pittsburgh Ballroom BC

Sponsoring Units: DCMP DPOLY
Chair: Xaio Lun Wu, University of Pittsburgh

Abstract ID: BAPS.2009.MAR.V2.4

Abstract: V2.00004 : Gene brushes on a chip: From crowding and the search problem to synthetic systems

9:48 AM–10:24 AM

Preview Abstract

Author:

  Roy Bar-Ziv
    (Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel)

We assemble DNA polymer brushes coding for entire genes on a surface by means of a new photolithographic approach. The gene density can be controlled from dilute to high density where the local concentration -- Megabase pairs per micron cubed -- is comparable to that in a bacterium. The gene brush, therefore, emulates the crowded medium of the cell, allowing us to study DNA transactions in vitro under native conditions. We find that transcription/translation from these gene brushes is highly sensitive to DNA density, orientation and composition. As a step towards multi-gene synthetic systems, we integrated on a chip two spatially separated gene brushes, and implemented a two-stage transcription/translation cascade.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2009.MAR.V2.4