Molecular Nanoscience

About

This summer course is aimed at anyone with fundamental science knowledge in various fields. It introduces the future of computing, nanotechnology, material science, and medicine from bottom-up building blocks to full-functioning applications. The course focuses on building self-assembled machines with nucleic acid.

During the course, you will get to explore the fundamental processes of building chemical computers, where information is coded in concentrations, and constructing functional devices with nucleic acids and proteins. You will understand information-bearing molecules and how they are glued together. You will also expand your understanding through critical thinking and problem-solving. You will also be introduced to the fundamentals such as biology, thermodynamics, and experimental methods. By the end of the course, you will understand how to use common computational tools for nucleic acid design.

This summer course is perfect for students who want to build biology-based devices or the future of chemical computers. The subject is broad and will give you a good starting point for further studies or research in the field. No matter your background, this interdisciplinary field has something for everyone.

Course leader

Joonas Ryssy holds a PhD in DNA Nanotechnology from Aalto University and works as a Senior Editor on The Art of Molecular Programming textbook. Joonas is a multidisciplinary expert on chemistry, biophysics, and material science with extensive experience in teaching (bio)physics.

Target group

This course is suitable for bachelor and master students with a basic understanding of chemistry and physics.

Requirement: one (1) year minimum of bachelor studies in some STEM field, physics, chemistry, computer science, or biology. The ideal student would have completed at least basic physics or chemistry courses.

Participants must have completed a high school or vocational degree or equivalent by the time the course starts. However, they do not have to be a degree student at a university to participate in our courses.

Additionally, all summer school course students must be 18 years or older, as it is the legal age in Finland.

Course aim

After completing the course the students will have the knowledge of the building blocks of self-assembled systems to build chemical computers. They will also have the tools to further design such systems. The students will understand the dynamic self-assembled systems such as DNA-based soft-robotics and chemical reaction networks based nucleic acids.

Some of the subtopics covered:

- Basic biology and thermodynamics
- Introduction to experimental methods
- Molecules as building blocks and construction material
- Nucleic acid sequence design and hybridization and dissociation principles
- Programming of self-assembled structures
- Interaction with external stimuli
- Basic chemical reaction networks
- Nucleic acid-based circuits
- The use in therapeutics

Fee info