DNA Nanotechnology Featured in New Boise State University Podcast Series

A new website - beyondtheblue.boisestate.edu - has been launched to showcase the expertise and innovative spirit that exists in many fields at Boise State University.

In an ongoing series of podcasts, faculty experts are providing insight into today's issues, challenges and topics of interest by delivering unique presentations that take their audiences into their classrooms and research labs. Visitors to beyondtheblue.boisestate.edu can listen to podcasts directly on the site. Users also can link to iTunesU where they can download past podcasts and subscribe to receive automatic downloads of new content whenever they open iTunes.

Nanotechnology Featured in New Boise State University Podcast Series" />

"Boise State professors are truly among the nation's finest, and these podcasts provide a personalized way for the general public to connect, learn and explore with them on an array of topics," said President Bob Kustra. "Listeners will be equally impressed by Boise State's expertise beyond the blue in the field of academics and research."

The initial showcase of presenters features Will Hughes, DNA Nanotechnology Expert. Will Hughes, whose team of researches are beneficiaries of a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation.

In his podcast, Hughes speaks on the topic of The Future of DNA Nanotechnology: From a biological perspective, DNA is the language for life. But what may be less widely known is DNA's potential as a programmable building block at the nanoscale. In this podcast, Hughes discusses DNA's potential as an engineering material for building structural scaffolds for nanoelectronic devices and biochemical tools for diagnosing disease. With grants from the W.M. Keck Foundation, the National Institutes of Health , the National Science Foundation , and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Hughes and his colleagues in the Nanoscale Materials & Device Research Group are pursuing DNA nanotechnology as a future manufacturing process. http://beyondtheblue.boisestate.edu/blog/2011/10/31/will_hughes/

"Boise State seeks to conduct biomedical research that pushes the boundaries of discovery with new technologies that could save lives," Kustra said. "This highly-competitive Keck Foundation grant is a testament to the innovative thinking of our faculty and their pioneering work that could have a profound global impact."

The Keck Foundation is known for funding high-risk, high-return projects in science, engineering and medical research. Keck awards fall outside the mission of public funding agencies and support transformative ideas that are investments in the future. Other recent recipients of Keck grants include Arizona State University, UCLA, Boston College, University of Texas, Columbia University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University.

"Our vision is to fundamentally change early-stage disease diagnosis and treatment on a global scale," Hughes said. "By using engineered biochemical tools, disease-specific markers could be identified through a portable DNA-based device that is analogous to a disposable pregnancy test. We believe the system could potentially become the gold standard in diagnosing diseases, especially where medical equipment and resources are scarce."

Hughes, who is an expert in nanoscience and medical applications of DNA nanotechnology, joined Boise State in 2008 and the MSTMRI in 2010. He previously was an assistant professor of materials engineering at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education post-doctoral fellow at the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C. Hughes earned his Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his bachelor's degree at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The Boise State research team also features Bernard Yurke, co-principal investigator and research professor of materials science and engineering, who is an internationally-recognized leader in quantum optics and DNA nanotechnology; Cheryl Jorcyk, co-principal investigator and professor of biological sciences, who is a leader in oncology and molecular mechanisms of tumor progressions; Jeunghoon Lee, assistant professor of chemistry, who is an expert in nanomaterial synthesis; and Elton Graugnard, assistant research professor of materials science and engineering, who is both an expert in nanotechnology and the lead experimentalist on the project.

"Our team is passionate about the potential for this research," said Amy Moll, interim dean of the College of Engineering. "The effort is unique in how it integrates the biological sciences with physics, chemistry, materials science and computer science. The support of the Keck Foundation provides a catalyst that will result in tangible benefits to our emerging research community."

The detection of lung cancer will be the initial research focus, using a series of engineered reactions between synthetic DNA components and cancer-specific micro-RNAs; which are small nucleic acids that function as gene regulators. Relative concentrations of cancer-specific micro-RNAs can either promote or hinder tumor growth. The detection of micro-RNAs of diagnostic significance could fundamentally change the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

New faculty podcasts will be added on a regular basis. The website contains bonus video and editorial content about the university, its growth, research initiatives and student life. A related collection of faculty interviews also is accessible from the Reader's Corner radio show hosted by Kustra on Boise State Public Radio.