Designing nanostructures from DNA molecules — for biosensing, drug delivery, nanomachines, and discoveries we haven't imagined yet. Based at Emory University and Georgia Tech.
How do we coax DNA strands into precise 2D and 3D architectures using only base pairing? From origami lattices to brick crystals.
Can DNA nanostructures detect forces inside cells, deliver drugs precisely, or sense pathogens before symptoms appear?
What happens when you wire DNA origami motors to gold nanoparticles or quantum dots? We're building nano-robots to find out.
Our lab sits at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and engineering — which means we hire curious people from all those backgrounds. If you're drawn to building things smaller than a virus and answering questions that didn't have answers five years ago, this is your kind of place.
Innovation, curiosity, creativity, and collaboration aren't just values on a poster — they shape how we run lab meetings, mentor students, and write papers together.
Health Sciences Research Building (HSRB)
1760 Haygood Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30322
Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Emory University & Georgia Tech
We use DNA as an engineering material — not just genetic information. Here's where our curiosity is focused right now.
Self-assembly of DNA through Watson-Crick-Franklin base pairing and base stacking interactions lies at the heart of this exciting field. We explore new ways and structures to assemble from DNA using fundamental design principles.
Current projects include DNA origami molds for chiral assembly of nanoparticles, design and assembly of novel DNA lattice structures, and studying and controlling molecular interactions within nanostructures. Our 2012 Science paper on DNA brick crystals established a foundational toolkit still in use worldwide.
DNA being a biomolecule creates unlimited opportunities for using nanostructures in biological and biomedical systems. We develop nanostructures for bio-sensing, delivery systems, and studying the small but powerful forces that drive processes in living systems.
Active projects include a shear stress sensing DNA nano reporter, studying mechanosensitive protein interactions, building hybrid nanostructures branching into synthetic biology, and developing biosensors for SARS-CoV-2 and drug delivery systems.
We create smart hybrid systems that harness the potential of different functional materials. We've built nano systems including DNA origami motors and nano actuators, combining DNA nanotechnology with gold nanoparticles, quantum dots, and bionanomaterials.
Current projects include co-assembly of DNA with peptides, use of DNA nanostructures to capture and organize carbon nanotubes and conductive proteins, and fabrication of patterned surfaces with DNA origami.
From Science and Nature to specialized journals across chemistry, materials, and biomedical engineering.
Tunable Patterning of DNA Origami on Surfaces Using Steric Brushes
Expanding DNA alphabet adds a previously unknown dimension to nanostructures
DNA computing function switching by programming base stacking interactions with minimal molecular architecture changes
Spring-loaded DNA origami arrays as energy-supplied hardware for modular nanorobots
Emerging Research on Gene Delivery to the Nucleus via DNA Origami
Modulating transformation of DNA origami nanoarray via sequence design
Scaffolding Light-Up Aptamers on DNA Nanostructures for Fluorescence Enhancement
Self-authenticating genomic materials in Escherichia coli via advanced genome signatures
Differential Sensitivity to Interepitope Spacing in Mast Cells and B Cells Enables Design of Hypoallergenic Allergen Vaccine Immunogens
Two-Dimensional, Chiral Colloidal Superlattices Engineered with DNA Origami
Dynamic DNA Superstructures with emergent functions
DNA Origami Colloidal Crystals: Opportunities and Challenges
Controlled mechanochemical coupling of anti-junctions in DNA origami arrays
DNA-silica nanolattices as mechanical metamaterials
Dynamic Gold Nanostructures Based on DNA Self Assembly
Free-Standing DNA Origami Superlattice to Facilitate Cryo-EM Visualization of Membrane Vesicles
Mechanism of DNA origami folding elucidated by mesoscopic simulations
A Programmable DNAzyme for the Sensitive Detection of Nucleic Acids
DNA-Nanostructure-Guided Assembly of Proteins into Programmable Shapes
Dynamic Gold Nanostructures Based on DNA Self Assembly
Controlling Silicification on DNA Origami with Polynucleotide Brushes
Spatiotemporal Control over Polynucleotide Brush Growth on DNA Origami Nanostructures
Deep inverse design of hydrophobic patches on DNA origami for mesoscale assembly of superlattices
Detection of cellular traction forces via the force-triggered Cas12a-mediated catalytic cleavage of a fluorogenic reporter strand
A Spatially Programmable DNA Nanorobot Arm to Modulate Anisotropic Gold Nanoparticle Assembly by Enzymatic Excision
Circular single-stranded DNA as switchable vector for gene expression in mammalian cells
Building Large DNA Bundles via Controlled Hierarchical Assembly of DNA Tubes
DNA origami-designed 3D phononic crystals
Recent Advances in DNA Origami-Engineered Nanomaterials and Applications
Structure-Dependent Electrical Conductance of DNA Origami Nanowires
Unraveling mechanotransduction in T cells with DNA nanotechnology
Cooperative binding of T cell receptor and CD4 to peptide-MHC enhances antigen sensitivity
A bistable and reconfigurable molecular system with encodable bonds
Seeded growth of adaptive tiles on DNA origami
Design of Uracil-Modified DNA Nanotubes for Targeted Drug Release via DNA-Modifying Enzyme Reactions
Stress in DNA Gridiron Facilitates the Formation of Two-Dimensional Crystalline Structures
DNA Assembly of Modular Components into a Rotary Nanodevice
Programmable allosteric DNA regulations for molecular networks and nanomachines
Shaped DNA origami carrier nanopore translocation influenced by aptamer based surface modification
Spatiotemporal Control of Molecular Cascade Reactions by a Reconfigurable DNA Origami Domino Array
Blockade of glutamine-dependent cell survival augments antitumor efficacy of CPI-613 in head and neck cancer
Massively Parallelized Molecular Force Manipulation with On-Demand Thermal and Optical Control
Divalent Multilinking Bonds Control Growth and Morphology of Nanopolymers
Monochromatic Fluorescent Barcodes Hierarchically Assembled from Modular DNA Origami Nanorods
Programmable Site-Specific Functionalization of DNA Origami with Polynucleotide Brushes
Mechanically Triggered Hybridization Chain Reaction
DNA-Grafted 3D Superlattice Self-Assembly
DNA Nanotechnology-Based Biosensors and Therapeutics
DNA origami single crystals with Wulff shapes
Accurate genotyping of fragmented DNA using a toehold assisted padlock probe
High-Throughput Dielectrophoretic Trapping and Detection of DNA Origami
Programmable transformations of DNA origami made of small modular dynamic units
Hierarchical Fabrication of DNA Wireframe Nanoarchitectures for Efficient Cancer Imaging and Targeted Therapy
DNA Origami-Enabled Biosensors
DNA Origami Guided Self-Assembly of Plasmonic Polymers with Robust Long-Range Plasmonic Resonance
Low-Bias Manipulation of DNA Oligo Pool for Robust Data Storage
Programming the Curvatures in Reconfigurable DNA Domino Origami by Using Asymmetric Units
Engineering Organization of DNA Nano-Chambers through Dimensionally Controlled and Multi-Sequence Encoded Differentiated Bonds
Modular Reconfigurable DNA Origami: From Two-Dimensional to Three-Dimensional Structures
Live-cell super-resolved PAINT imaging of piconewton cellular traction forces
Proximity-Induced Pattern Operations in Reconfigurable DNA Origami Domino Array
Interfacially Bridging Covalent Network Yields Hyperstable and Ultralong Virus-Based Fibers for Engineering Functional Materials
Programmable assembly of gold nanoparticle nanoclusters and lattices
Information Coding in a Reconfigurable DNA Origami Domino Array
Programming Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering of DNA Origami-templated Metamolecules
Programmable Assembly of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Using DNA Origami
Programming Dynamic Assembly of Viral Proteins with DNA Origami
DNA nanotechnology assisted nanopore-based analysis
Programming the Nucleation of DNA Brick Self-Assembly with a Seeding Strand
Tunable DNA Origami Motors Translocate Ballistically Over μm Distances at nm/s Speeds
RNA imaging in living mice enabled by an in vivo hybridization chain reaction circuit with a tripartite DNA probe
Electrostatic Complementarity Drives Amyloid/Nucleic Acid Co-Assembly
Programming DNA Tube Circumference by Tile Offset Connection
DNA-Guided Assembly of Molecules, Materials, and Cells
Nicking-Assisted Reactant Recycle to Implement Entropy-Driven DNA Circuit
Self-Assembly of DNA-Minocycline Complexes by Metal Ions with Controlled Drug Release
Magnetic Plasmon Networks Programmed by Molecular Self-Assembly
Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Cholesterol-DNA Nanorods
Dynamic DNA Structures
Biomimetic Compartments Scaffolded by Nucleic Acid Nanostructures
Complex wireframe DNA nanostructures from simple building blocks
Attack on the Cell Membrane: The Pointy Ends of DNA Nanostructures Lead the Way
Design and operation of reconfigurable two-dimensional DNA molecular arrays
Selective in Situ Assembly of Viral Protein onto DNA Origami
Programmable multivalent DNA-origami tension probes for reporting cellular traction forces
Advanced Cell and Tissue Biomanufacturing
Structural DNA Nanotechnology: Artificial Nanostructures for Biomedical Research
Visualization of the Cellular Uptake and Trafficking of DNA Origami Nanostructures in Cancer Cells
Practical aspects of structural and dynamic DNA nanotechnology
Programmable self-assembly of three-dimensional nanostructures from 10,000 unique components
Systemic Delivery of Bcl2-Targeting siRNA by DNA Nanoparticles Suppresses Cancer Cell Growth
Programmable Supra-Assembly of DNA Surface Adapter for Tunable Chiral Directional Self-Assembly of Gold Nanorods
Structurally Ordered Nanowire Formation from Co-Assembly of DNA Origami and Collagen-Mimetic Peptides
Template-free reconstruction of nanomolecular structures from nanoscopy images with isotropic 3D resolution
Reconfiguration of DNA Molecular Arrays Driven by Information Relay
The Beauty and Utility of DNA Origami
Reconfigurable Three-Dimensional Gold Nanorod Plasmonic Nanostructures Organized on DNA Origami Tripod
Programming Self-Assembly of DNA Origami Honeycomb Two-Dimensional Lattices and Plasmonic Metamaterials
Plasmonic Toroidal Metamolecules Assembled by DNA Origami
Regulation at a distance of biomolecular interactions using a DNA origami nanoactuator
Programmable DNA Hydrogels Assembled from Multi-Domain DNA Strands
Site-Specific Surface Functionalization of Gold Nanorods Using DNA Origami Clamps
Nucleic Acid Based Nanoreactors — Toward the Study of Multienzymatic Pathways
Prescribed nanoparticle cluster architectures and low-dimensional arrays built using octahedral DNA origami frames
Au Nanorod Helical Superstructures with Designed Chirality
DNA Brick Crystals with Prescribed Depth
Designer three-dimensional DNA architectures
Polyhedra Self-Assembled from DNA Tripods and Characterized with 3D DNA-PAINT
DNA Origami Structures Directly Assembled from Intact Bacteriophages
Design Space for Complex DNA Structures
Metalized DNA Nanolithography for Encoding and Transferring Spatial Information for Graphene Patterning
Three-Dimensional Structures Self-Assembled from DNA Bricks
Two Design Strategies for Enhancement of Multilayer-DNA-Origami Folding: Underwinding for Specific Intercalator Rescue and Staple-Break Positioning
Multilayer DNA Origami Packed on Hexagonal and Hybrid Lattices
Multilayer DNA Origami Packed on a Square Lattice
Scaffolded DNA Origami of a DNA Tetrahedron Molecular Container
Controlled Delivery of DNA Origami on Patterned Surfaces
Mirror Image DNA Nanostructures for Chiral Supramolecular Assemblies
Self-Assembled Water-Soluble Nucleic Acid Probe Tiles for Label-Free RNA Hybridization Assays
Developing DNA Tiles for Oligonucleotide Hybridization Assay with Higher Accuracy and Efficiency
Self-assembled DNA Nanostructures for Distance-Dependent Multivalent Ligand-Protein Binding
DNA-Tile-Directed Self-Assembly of Quantum Dots into Two-Dimensional Nanopatterns
Quantum Dot Bioconjugation during Core-Shell Synthesis
Subtractive Assembly of DNA Nanoarchitectures Driven by Fuel Strand Displacement
Functional DNA Nanotube Arrays: Bottom-Up Meets Top-Down
Spatially Addressable Multiprotein Nanoarrays Templated by Aptamer-Tagged DNA Nanoarchitectures
A Study of DNA Tube Formation Mechanisms Using 4-, 8-, and 12-Helix DNA Nanostructures
Periodic Square-Like Gold Nanoparticle Arrays Templated by Self-Assembled 2D DNA Nanogrids on a Surface
Associate Professor · Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of BME
Yonggang Ke is an Associate Professor at the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology.
He received his BS in Chemistry from Peking University in 1999 and his PhD in Chemistry from Arizona State University in 2009, under the mentorship of Professor Hao Yan. From 2009 to 2014, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University with Professor William Shih and Professor Peng Yin.
He joined Emory in 2014 to start his lab of DNA nanotechnology, working on bio-inspired programmable nanomaterial self-assembly and its applications for molecular biophysics, therapeutics, and material science.
National Science Foundation CAREER Award
NIGMS MIRA Award (1R35GM153472) — DNA nanodevices for lymphocyte interrogation
Research funding from NSF, NIH, DOE, and TSMC
Postdocs, PhD students, and undergrads from chemistry, biomedical engineering, and beyond.

Luyao Shen, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow


Yoonhae Koh
PhD Student

Haozhi Wang, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow

Tram Nguyen
PhD Student

Reane Choi
Undergraduate Student



Chenyun Sun
Post-doctoral Fellow
Andrew Chen
Post-doctoral Fellow
Diya Nath
Undergraduate Intern, University of Arizona
Lab alumni who have gone on to great things.
| Daniel Fu, PhD | 2025–2026 | Postdoc | Senior Data Scientist at Microsoft |
| Breana Laguera, PhD | 2023–2025 | PhD Student | Development Scientist at nanoComposix | Fortis Life Sciences |
| Yunlong Zhang, PhD | 2018–2024 | PhD Student | Lecturer at School of Nursing, Qingdao Binhai University |
| Shuang Wang, PhD | 2021–2023 | Postdoc | Professor at Ocean University of China |
| Qinyi Lu, PhD | 2018–2023 | PhD Student | Senior Scientist at Argo Biopharma |
| Kun Zhou, PhD | 2018–2021 | Postdoc | Postdoc at Yale University (2021) |
| Palash Dutta, PhD | 2014–2016 | Postdoc | Postdoc at Boston University (2016) |
| Pengfei Wang, PhD | 2014–2019 | Postdoc | Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2019) |
| Travis Meyer, PhD | 2014–2019 | PhD Student | Lecturer at Rutgers University (2019) |
| Shirin Kale | 2014–2015 | Undergraduate | Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Ruifu (Jasper) Shi | 2014–2015 | Undergraduate | Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Victor Pan, PhD | 2015–2020 | PhD Student | Postdoc at Emory University (2020) |
| Huiling Jiang, PhD | 2015–2016 | Research Assistant | Chief Marketing Officer at Advanced BioChemicals (2016) |
| Jie Song, PhD | 2015–2017 | Postdoc | Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2017) |
| Cheikh Tidiane Diagne | 2015 | Visiting Scholar | CEA (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives), France |
| Shao Shu, PhD | 2015–2016 | Visiting Professor | Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications |
| Kristin Weiss | 2016–2018 | Undergraduate | Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Jun Yan | 2016 | Visiting Undergraduate | Tsinghua University |
| William Cooper | 2016–2017 | High School Student | |
| Yingwei Zhang, PhD | 2017–2019 | Visiting Professor | Beijing University of Chemical Technology |
| Gloria Chan | 2017–2018 | Undergraduate | Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Fengyuan Xu | 2018–2020 | Undergraduate | Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Aniket Venkatesh | 2020 | Undergraduate | Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Ruizi Peng, PhD | 2017–2019 | Visiting Graduate Student | Chemistry, Hunan University |
| Han Wu | 2018–2019 | Visiting Graduate Student | Chemistry, Hunan University |
| Kun Zhao | 2019–2020 | PhD Student | Biomedical Engineering, Peking University |
| Chunyang Zhou, PhD | 2019–2020 | Postdoc | |
| Lei Yu | 2019–2020 | Visiting Graduate Student | Wuhan University of Science and Technology |
NIH Award
Dr. Ke received a NIGMS MIRA award (1R35GM153472) for developing DNA nanodevices for molecular interrogation and regulation of lymphocytes in the adaptive immune system.
NSF Grant
Led by Prof. Joshua Hihath at Arizona State University, our team was awarded a four-year grant (ECCS-2328217) by the NSF Future Manufacturing program.
NIH Center Grant
Led by Prof. Khalid Salaita at Emory, our team was awarded a five-year NIGMS center grant (RM1GM145394) for developing technologies to study mechanobiology and mechanotransduction pathways in living cells.
Industry Partnership
We were awarded a three-year grant from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for using DNA-based precision assembly for manufacturing carbon nanotube arrays.
NSF Grant
Led by Prof. Andrew Ellington at UT Austin, we were awarded a three-year NSF grant (CCF-2227399) for precision assembly and electronic properties of protein nanowire circuits using DNA origami.
A look at life in the lab — click any photo to view it full-size and download it.