Physics of DNA assembly
and applications
May 4 - 8, 2009
Organizers:
Ralf Blossey (Interdisciplinary Research Institute, Lille, France),
Ralf Everaers ( Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France),
and Michel Peyrard (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France)
Scientific motivation:
In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick noted that the structure of DNA
immediately suggested a copying mechanism for the genetic material. Today, in
parallel to new insights into biological function like the nucleosome
positioning code of DNA, the properties of the "molecule of life" open up new
ways to construct nanomaterials. With DNA
meanwhile allowing its manipulation so easily, catalogues of molecular "Lego"
come within reach. Some of the possibilities are:
- DNA self-assembly into complex branched structures with predetermined,
programmable two- or three-dimensional shapes
- DNA controled nano-assembly : the development of a large variety of
molecular "Lego" blocks with specific DNA linkers opens new ways for the
construction of nano-materials
- DNA Nano-machines and DNA computing
- RNA interference is a system within living cells that helps determine what
genes are active and how active they are. RNAi is based on binding of
messenger RNA (mRNA) to two types of small RNA molecules - microRNA (miRNA)
and small interfering RNA (siRNA)
- The design of new biochemical networks using synthetic DNA and RNA
(synthetic biology)
The Les Houches Session on Physics of DNA
assembly aims at establishing a snapshot of
the state-of-the art in the field. We want to capture the diversity of the
topic, with its different facets ranging from chemistry, experimental and
theoretical physics to computer science.
We intend to gather experimentalists, theorists, and
computational scientists with the aim to
- Discuss the state of the art, future perspectives and theoretical
challenges of nanotechnolgical applications of DNA,
- Incite the transfer of modeling and scale-bridging techniques developed
for amphiphilic systems and proteins to the field of polynucleotide assembly.
The meeting will
be structured around long lectures, completed by shorter talks and
discussions. We plan to have a large fraction of experimental talks to help
focus these discussions.
Invited speakers include:
- Thomas Carell (LMU Munich)
- Enrico Carlon (KU Leuven)
- Hervé Isambert (Inst. Curie, Paris)
- Fred Russell Kramer (Public Health Research Institute, Newark)
- Oleg Krichevsky (Ben Gurion U)
- Christophe Lavelle (IRI Lille)
- Françoise Livolant (U Orsay)
- Roland Netz (TU Munich)
- Henri Orland (CEA Saclay)
- Niles Pierce (CalTech)*
- Friedrich Simmel (TU Munich)
- Akira Suyama (U Tokyo)
- Andrew J. Turberfield (U Oxford)
- Günter von Kiedrowski (Ruhr-University Bochum)
- Erik Winfree (CalTech)
* to be confirmed
Location:
Les Houches is a resort village in the Chamonix valley of the French Alps.
Established in 1951, the
Les Houches Physics School
is located in a group of mountain chalets surrounded by meadows and woods at
1000 m elevation. It is ideally located for mountaineering and touring as
well as
intellectual pursuits.
The fee of 365 Euros covers registration and full board lodging for the five
days
of the workshop.
Contacts:
- Ralf Blossey (ralf.blossey@iri.univ-lille1.fr)
- Ralf Everaers (Ralf.Everaers@ens-lyon.fr)
- Michel Peyrard (Michel.Peyrard@ens-lyon.fr)
Registration deadline: April 10, 2009
Download the
registration form , fill it, and send it by e-
mail to
Michel Peyrard (Michel.Peyrard@ens-lyon.fr)
Support:
Les Houches Physics school
and SimBioMa
program of the European Science Foundation.
Les Houches Physics School is affiliated with Université Joseph Fourier
Grenoble I (UJF). It is a joint interuniversity facility of UJF and
Grenoble-INP, and is supported by the UJF, the Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Direction des Sciences de la Matière
du Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA/DSM).