Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Biotechnology

Life originates from a set of universal rules and functions encoded within genetic material, both DNA and RNA. As a result, much of modern biological research relies a detailed understanding of the structure, molecular behavior and biochemical properties of nucleic acids as well as modern approaches to chemically synthesize nucleic acids and engineered nucleic acid analogues. In this seminar, we will take a closer look at nucleic acids with the goal of understanding how to to make optimal use of them in biotechnological and bioanalytical applications within life science research.

Topics to be covered include:

•    Overview of the history of nucleic acid discovery
•    Structure and function of DNA and RNA
•    Thermodynamic stability: hybridization and melting temperature
•    Synthesis: phosphoramidite chemistry and enzymatic approaches
•    Xenobiotic nucleic acids: engineered modifications to the backbone, sugar and bases
•    Labeling and detection of nucleic acids
•    Microarray synthesis chemistry
•    Sequencing chemistry

These topics will be covered with the aid of lectures, discussions and short exercises.