Spatio-temporal control of light-driven plasmonic and photoswitchable nanoagents

The goal of this project is the design of nanoagents that are controllable by light. For its continuation, we will combine the expertise and technological advancements that we have developed with our collaboration partners over the previous funding periods to now harness plasmonic and photoswitchable nanoagents for controlling cellular function.

With the group of Jungmann (A11), we will devise a method to precisely measure temperature distributions on plasmonic nanostructures by a combination of plasmonic heating and DNA-PAINT super-resolution microscopy. By localized heating, we furthermore seek to control molecular absorption and desorption on plasmonic nanostructures. In particular, we plan to develop a strategy for the preparation of micro-nanopatterned interfaces with multiplexed biochemical functionality. In a joint collaboration with A06 (Liedl/Heuer-Jungemann) and A02 (Simmel), we want to develop plasmonic DNA-origami nanopores. These nanoagents will be incorporated in a lipid bilayer membrane to perform Raman spectroscopy of single molecules as they diffuse from one membrane side to the other. In addition, we will explore the possibility of using optical force manipulation to orient and align DNA nanoagents in a membrane setting. This general idea of harnessing optothermal effects for plasmonic nanoagent manipulation will be taken a step further to demonstrate the control of DNA-origami ‘nanorobots’ in a new collaboration with the group of Simmel (A02).
Finally, we will intensify our collaborative efforts with the projects B09, B03 and A07 to explore the use of photoswitchable lipid molecules or photolipids as nanoagents. We will pursue the goal of incorporating photolipid molecules into a cell membrane to control characteristic membrane properties (e.g. permeability, fluidity, stiffness) with light. Importantly, we now want to investigate the conditions for two-photon photoisomerization of photoswitchable nanoagents, which is imperative for their application in cellular networks and 3D matrices. Transforming from 2D into 3D, we will then explore the use of photoswitchable nanoagents as force actuators in collagen micro-environments developed in project B11 (Engelke).