Week 8: Nanotech + Art

 This week I really enjoyed learning about nanoparticles. My own research in CNSI is based on a core-shell microparticle platform that enables single-cell encapsulation and studies. I thought it was really cool that Dr. Gimzewski dove into the history of nanoparticles and how they have existed in technology and nature for a long time. It’s so interesting to see the science of how making materials into a nanosized portion can yield interesting properties. The one that I found to be most interesting was how inert materials can become catalysts for chemical reactions (Gimzewski 2024 Lecture 3). It was cool to learn about all the different industrial applications of nanoparticles from windows to fabrics. I never knew that nanoparticles were so prevalent in everyday life outside of technology.



Image 1: Nanoparticles to Cross Blood-Brain Barrier


These properties make it obvious why nanotechnology would be appealing to artists. This week, I also learned that manipulating and rearranging matter at the nanoscale level can also change its color (El Sayegh 2022). This makes sense as this is just another physical property given that color stems from the light that is reflected by the object onto our eyes. In this class I find that I most enjoy the art that takes advantage of scientists’ ability to manipulate the world. DNA origami is a great example of this. Being able to characterize the physical laws by which DNA folds and stabilizes its structure to create models of whatever we want is so cool. I feel like if I had a stronger computational background, I would definitely want to do the same. I know that this is a lot more complicated with proteins as rational design with proteins can be very difficult. Although we can generally predict how proteins will fold given their intramolecular interactions and side chains, it’s difficult to rationalize what its exact structure and subsequent function will be like. I had no idea this has been possible with DNA (Rothemund 2008). 



Image 2: Nanoparticles Gene Therapy Delivery


In August, I’ll be starting my Master’s in Translational Medicine with a focus on therapeutics. Hearing that quantum devices have the capability to cross the blood-brain barrier paves the way for so many new therapeutics (Gimzewski 2024 Lecture 4). Previously, I’ve only known of alkaloids that can target certain areas of the brain, but this sounds like such an awesome engineering issue to try and solve. I can’t wait to learn more about this on my own and see what kind of diseases and conditions are being targeted with this technology. To wrap up this blog post, I also wanted to reflect on another TED talk that I found really interesting. Sometimes it’s hard to see how fast science as a field is actually progressing every year and decade (Kurzweil 2009). The fact that we are advancing exponentially every year is amazing and it feels great to be alive in this time period. It puts a lot of things into perspective when I realize that 100 years ago the textbooks I’m reading did not exist. 



Image 3: DNA Oragami


Sources:

  1. Gimzewski, James. Nanotech + Art: Lecture 3. 2024.

  2. El Sayegh, Abdul Mohsen. "The Impact of Nanotechnology on Nanoart to Create Artwork: An Analytical Study." International Journal of Education, Learning and Development 10.10 (2022): 29-47.

  3. Rothemund, Paul. “DNA folding, in detail,” TED. 2008.

  4. Kurzweil, Ray. “A university for the coming singularity,” TED. 2009.

  5. Gimzewski, James. Nanotech + Art: Lecture 4. 2024.


Images:

  1. Sokolova, V., Mekky, G., van der Meer, S.B. et al. Transport of ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (2 nm) across the blood–brain barrier in a six-cell brain spheroid model. Sci Rep 10, 18033. 2020.

  2. Xue, C., Hu, S., Gao, ZH. et al. Programmably tiling rigidified DNA brick on gold nanoparticle as multi-functional shell for cancer-targeted delivery of siRNAs. Nat Commun 12, 2928. 2021. 

  3. Hong, F., et. al. DNA Origami: Scaffolds for Creating Higher Order Structures. Chemical Reviews. 2017.

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