DNA is one of the most essential elements in life as it carries genetic information. The ability to process the information may also be exploited to translate DNA into an engineering material. This talk will show how molecular information may be harnessed and programmed into nanoscale structures and mechanical machinery.
I will discuss how DNA molecules can be used to construct programmable designer materials such as architectured metamaterials and synthetic molecular motors. This talk will also include new mechanisms for building artificial cells with DNA molecules. We show that synthetic lipid vesicles with DNA components can not only migrate on 2D surfaces with directional motility, but also coordinate their behaviors with other vesicles. The coordinated behaviors emulate biological cell activities such as immune response, thus opening new opportunities for applications in bioengineering.