Applications of Nanoparticle Organic Hybrid Materials in DNA Separation

Comprising of silica nanoparticle cores with a covalently-linked corona of polyethylene glycol oligomers, Nanoscale Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs) are a recently-developed class of materials which exhibit liquid-like properties in the absence of a solvent. This talk focuses on using NOHMs to enhance the electrophoretic separation of DNA. In particular, we report on the incorporation of silica nanoparticle hybrids into a polyacrylamide gel sieving matrix, where the mobility of eluting DNA fragments are affected in a size-dependent manner. We discuss our findings in context of the steric and electrostatic properties of the NOHMs, and we present our efforts in developing a theoretical framework for DNA electrophoresis that accounts for these properties.