College of Science

Mason researchers use DNA 'origami' to design novel vaccine platform

Nathan Kahl — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 17:11:01 +0000

Mason researchers use DNA 'origami' to design novel vaccine platform Nathan Kahl Thu, 03/30/2023 - 13:11

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Four George Mason University researchers are part of a team developing a novel method to develop vaccines rapidly. Their new process takes advantage of DNA molecules’ self-assembly properties by folding them onto nanoparticles that mimic viruses, eliciting a robust protective immunity to COVID in mice. The journal Communications Biology published the findings in March.

Mason PhD student Esra Oktay and researcher Remi Veneziano working in the lab. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Remi Veneziano, an assistant professor, and Esra Oktay, a PhD student, both in the Mason College of Engineering and Computing’s Department of Bioengineering, published the paper along with Farhang Alem and Aarthi Narayanan in the Mason College of Science, collaborators from the U.S Naval Research Lab, and Case Western Reserve University.

“The beauty of this technique is that the design flexibility and the ease of assembly allow users to create nanoparticles with prescribed geometry and size," Veneziano explains. "They are assembled by mixing multiple DNA strands in a tube and by slowly [heating and cooling] them.”

The team took advantage of having a DNA "barcode" of sorts on the surface of the particles to attach antigens precisely at prescribed locations. “All the positions in the structure have a different sequence. Here at position A, you have sequence ‘ATCG,’ for example,” he says, referencing DNA base-letter abbreviations. “At position B you might have ‘CGAT,’ which allows you to modify only specific regions of the nanostructure.”

Having control and predictability of the DNA structure, the team organized multiple antigens—small viral proteins that trigger an immune response—to be a virus copycat with specific application onto the DNA strand. This allowed for an efficient triggering of the immune system, compared to results seen when randomly organizing an antigen. Their results suggest that “we don’t need to pack a lot of antigen on the surface of a particle,” Veneziano says. “We just need to organize the antigen in a specific pattern so that it’s recognized more efficiently by the immune cell.”

Their approach was successfully tested in a mouse model at the Mason Regional Biocontainment Lab within the university’s Biomedical Research Laboratory, one of 12 regional biocontainment facilities funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Narayanan says, “The platform is extremely versatile and adaptable in the antigenic possibilities it can present. With the appetite to develop broadly effective vaccines against multiple viruses with pandemic potential, this approach holds major promise.”

Oktay, who is working on a doctoral degree in bioengineering, notes, “During the pandemic we wanted to establish a strategy against COVID-19. We created an innovative and controllable platform using a tour de force of DNA origami technology, which has achieved a significant outcome in the way of protection against viruses.” She says the future goal is “to adapt this platform for other types of viruses for which currently there is no vaccine, and to create a protective system.”

Veneziano indicates the ability to stave off future pandemics is encouraging. “This novel technology has the potential to change the way we currently design vaccine particles by making vaccine development faster, safer, and cheaper.”

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Mason-led research team honored for neuron database

Colleen Rich — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 16:54:00 +0000

Mason-led research team honored for neuron database Colleen Rich Mon, 02/27/2023 - 11:54

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Giorgio Ascoli

The George Mason University team behind NeuroMorpho.org has been honored for its work by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and the Office of Data Science Strategy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Mason researcher Giorgio Ascoli with the team at NeuroMorpho.org at Mason's Krasnow Institute. Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

The team—Giorgio Ascoli, founding director of the Center for Neural Informatics, Structures, and Plasticity and professor of bioscience, along with postdoctoral research fellow Carolina Tecuatl and research assistant professor in Neuroinformatics Bengt Ljungquist—was one of four to earn the Distinguished Achievement Award from the DataWorks! Prize.

The team’s winning project focused on sharing data in an open-access database of 3D neural reconstructions. The database is continuously updated with contributions from more than 1,000 labs worldwide.

Ascoli created NeuroMorpho.Org in 2006 to store the large amounts of data needed to make computational models of neurons. It has grown from 932 reconstructions to more than 180,000.

The reconstructions have been used to investigate the pathways of Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and memory capacity. They have also been used to investigate the effects of cosmic radiation on astronauts’ central nervous systems.

Ascoli, professor of bioengineering and neuroscience at Mason, accepted the FASEB DataWorks! Prize Distinguished Achievement Award on behalf of his research team for NeuroMorpho.Org.

The prize showcases research teams’ exemplary achievements in biological and biomedical research that were made possible through data sharing and reuse.

The DataWorks! Prize is a partnership between FASEB and NIH to incentivize innovative practices and increase community engagement around data sharing and reuse. The FASEB and NIH announced the awards Feb. 23. The team, which earned $50,000 for their efforts, will present their project at a symposium on April 25.

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NSF research traineeship offers new approach to STEM graduate education

Colleen Rich — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:06:57 +0000

NSF research traineeship offers new approach to STEM graduate education Colleen Rich Wed, 09/18/2019 - 05:06

A multidisciplinary team of George Mason University researchers is part of a groundbreaking approach by the National Science Foundation that could change the face of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduate education in the future.

Siddhartha Sikdar, a professor of bioengineering in Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering and the director of the Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions (CASBBI), leads a team that has received an NSF Research Traineeship grant of nearly $3 million.

More than 100 PhD students from electrical and bioengineering, data science, computer science, neuroscience and the social sciences, including some with disabilities, will be trained to use state-of-the-art data analytic methods and wearable computing technologies based on novel transdisciplinary competencies, applications and practice curriculum.

Siddhartha Sikdar, Associate Professor / ECE Associate Professor, Bioengineering. Photo by: Ron Aira / George Mason University

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