"DNAzymes as Novel Tools for Metal-Ion Sensing in Living Cells"
Solely considered as a generic storage material, DNA was discovered to be capable of carrying out catalytic or enzymatic functions in 1990s. Since then, DNAzymes specific for a wide range of bioavailable metal ions have been selected through in vitro selection and have been converted into a large number of metal-ion specific sensors for environmental detection. Such a development has significantly expanded the number of metal ions one can detect. However, despite of such advancement, no report on using DNAzymes for cellular detection and actuation has been reported. In this talk, we will discuss the strategies and demonstrations for metal-ion sensing in living cells using DNAzymes. Nanoparticle-based DNAzyme probes, as well as photoactivatable DNAzymes have shown to be promising tools for intracellular metal-ion sensing.

Peiwen Wu, CMMB IGERT Trainee Peiwen is a PhD student in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Advisers: Yi Lu (Chemistry), Peter Wang (BioE), and Jianjun Cheng (BioE) Peiwen Wu is a graduate student in the department of Biochemistry. Her research goals are to detect and image the dynamics of metal ion distribution inside live cancer cells and correlate it with cell mechanical response. She is curious about how cell transduces mechanical signal to biochemical pathways. Peiwen earned her Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences at University of Science and Technology of China. Besides research, She likes running and swimming. Peiwen ran the Indianapolis half-marathon in Fall 2011.

Cellular and Molecular Mechanics and BioNanotechnology (CMMB IGERT) NIH/NCI Midwest Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center (M-CNTC) Center for Cellular Mechanics (CCM) Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST)