University of Groningen Applications of DNA hybrids in biobased medicine and materials Liu, Qing

University of Groningen

Applications of DNA hybrids in biobased medicine and materials

Liu, Qing

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Publication date: 2018

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Liu, Q. (2018). Applications of DNA hybrids in biobased medicine and materials. University of Groningen.

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Five years ago, I stepped out of the train at Groningen Noord station in a late autumn night and my feelings to the coming doctoral career was like the way I tried to find my apartment from the station: there was some light meters ahead but it came with a longer way of darkness. On the other hand, I was relieved because my wife (girlfriend back then) was there and showed me the way, just like few lights shining out of the darkness, dim but comforting. Now, after five years, it is coming to an end. It was not an easy time but every single minute was worth it and I am really happy about it. What makes me happier is that we welcomed a new member to our little family during that time, my lovely daughter Ruby. She is one of the biggest support to me finishing my PhD study. Apart from that, there are many people I would like to thank for their support. Without the help from them, I could not finish my PhD. I would like to gratefully acknowledge those who have contributed to this thesis and supported me during my PhD study.

To start with, I would like to give my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof.

Andreas Herrmann. Thank you for offering me the opportunity to carry out PhD

study in PCBE group! I still remember how excited I was when I received the offer from you. It was not easy to start in a new environment, especially what I was going to do was quite different from what I learnt as a master. But you always patiently and nicely explained everything to me and gave me instructions on my projects as well as my research career whenever I was confused. Your broad knowledge, inspiring ideas and enthusiasm in scientific research also inspired me a lot. Those knowledges gained from you help me to be a person with independent thought and an open mind in my future life. I wish you all the best with your work as well as your life in Aachen.

I also would like to thank the members of the reading committee: Prof. W. H. Roos,

Prof. J. G. Roelfes, and Prof. E. Weinhold for the time and the evaluation on my

thesis. I want to express my special thanks to you for your valuable comments which helped me improve the manuscript.

I would like to thank collaborators involved in my projects. Prof. Ben L. Feringa (Groningen University), Prof. I. Willner (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Prof.

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Eye Hospital Tübingen). I appreciated for the efforts you put on my projects. They helped a lot to improve my scientific work and finish my thesis. I want to specially thank Dr. Anouk S. Lubbe (Groningen University). It was struggling before we can finish the project. But you were always positive and looking at the bright side. Luckily, it was a happy ending and we have a nice paper now.

I also want take this opportunity to thank China Scholarship Council (CSC). Thanks for the scholarship for my four years’ PhD study, which gave me the opportunity to go abroad and study. Meanwhile, I would like to show my gratitude to my Alma mater, Sichuan University (SCU), which gave me full support when I applied for the CSC scholarship as well as when I was in Nehterlands. Special thanks dedicated to Prof. Zhihua Wu. I was deeply shocked when I heard that you were gone. Your decease is a great loss for Sichuan University as well as the scientific world. Your kindly words still help me in my life. May you rest in peace.

Now, it is time to thank my lovely PCBE colleagues.

Many thanks to Karin and Ursula for the help at the start and during my PhD with all the paper work, even after I left. Thanks a lot. Special thanks to Evgeny for your invaluable technical support on my project.

I sincerely want to express my gratitude to Lifei and Kai. Kai, you were like second-promoter to me. It was you who helped me start in the lab, learning DNA synthesis and purification, doing tests and directing my projects. In work, you are always filled with passion and energy and work until midnight. It also affected me a bit and my wife complained quite a few times because I stayed late in the lab. But hard work pays. With your help, I got familiar with everything in the lab fast and ended with a few papers. Thank you very much and wish you all the best in US with your family,

Juanjuan, Yige and Yihe. Lifei, I still remember your lazy eyes the next day morning

I arrived at Groningen. You were in your short pants and slippers, with a striped shirt which I bet you still wear. But under this floppy appearance is a smart mind

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and a kind heart. You have a broad knowledge and always glad to help others. Discussion with you is always inspiring and you can always get to the point and give suggestions. Like a saying “a chemist is always a good cook”, you are a very good one at both of them. I wish you all the best with your scientific career and your happy family, Qinhong and Lulu.

Special thanks to two of my dear Dutch friends, Jan Willem and Mark. Jan Willem, from the first time we met you gave me an impression of a tough guy. Later it turned out that you really are because you always came to the lab with parts of your skins off your hands. But you are nice to everybody around you and always with a big smile. You are good at all the equipment in the lab and patient to explain it to others. I will always remember the time we tried to fix Olga and when we were listening to Eminem at max volume. Thanks, man! Mark, our ordering man. With great power comes great responsibility. That is why you are always annoyed by us. You are always busy around the lab, sorting things out and tidying the shelf. As a young man, you have rather mature mind and look. You can get everything organized and done slowly but nicely like an old man. I really thank you for everything you did for us out of the lab. But you need to pace up to find your ideal lady now. I will always keep my finger crossed for you.

Jingyi and Shuo, thank you very much for the warm help in the last years. Having

you two in our life is a big comfort. You are patient and encouraging and always showed us the bright side of any events. I can not remember how many times you invited Zhuojun and me to your place for hotpots and other dishes, which was a big relief after one-day experiments. Whenever we needed help, you will show up and do your best to help us out of it or at least try to comfort us. I wish you and your lovely son Tuantuan all the best in the future.

Jing and Jiaying, you two are warm-hearted and nice to everybody around you. We

used to have lots of good time out of the lab, travelling to Lisbon, going to Keukenhof to watch tulip show and picking up chestnuts at Nijmegn. It was fun. There were so many times when we were playing mahjong. I am looking forward to the next time we play it together again. Many thanks for what you have done for us after we have

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left Groningen. It is a bless to have you in our life. Wish you and your lovely son,

Milan, success in everything.

Lei, you are an easy-going lady and nice to everyone in and out of the lab. I was also

quite amazed by how good you are at cooking, like dumplings and steamed and stuffed bum. Hope everything goes well with you, Zhongtao and Yutong. Agnieszka, thank you for everything you have done for me and Zhuojun. We had a great time at your wedding in Poland. Wish you all the best with the tall annoying Dutch guy.

Alina and Alessio, thank you for helping us with some experiments. Aside from that,

you also gave us lots of tips living in Netherlands. Thank you very much for helping me polish my CV when I was struggling searching for a job. Tao and Wenjun, we had quite a few pleasant nights playing mahjong. Hope we can do it again in the future. Jun and Pei, thank you for your help in the lab as well as many delicious dishes. Wish you all the best in University of Zhongshan. Tiancai and Yang, two years were short but we had a great time together. Thank you for that. We still have not hit a bar together. Looking forward to do that in the future. Diego, Wei, Eliza,

Avishek, Pavlo, Chao, Hongyan, Pengkun, Shuaidong, Miancheng, Yu, Xintong, Karolin, Kseniya and Gurudas, thanks very much for being there for me in the last

years. Life would have been totally different without you guys. It is indeed a very wonderful experience to work together with all of you. Thank you!

Qiuyan and Jin, thank you very much for the help in and out of the lab. Guowei,

thank you very much for the help you offered in my life. You are warm-hearted but a bit shy. Luckily you found your girl now. I wish you all the best in the future.

Meanwhile, I would like to thank Chinese Basketball Team in Groningen and

Pugilicé Groningen. We were at a bad location but with great people. Every year

we went to the cities in the south for some games but we already got exhausted after the early morning wake-up and long trip. We got kicked out in the first round but we enjoyed it and kept doing it. Thank you, Li, Shitou, Yifeng, Adu…It was a totally new experience for me to join the boxing club Pugilicé. Though my hands can not stop shaking every time after the training, I liked it. What does not kill you makes

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you stronger. And it was fun to know a lot of new guys there, Michael, Byjörn,

Ramon, Gina, Kelly…I also had very impressive experiences in the Batavierenrace.

Thank you for everything. Hope everything goes well with you in the future.

最后，我要对我最亲爱的家人表达我最诚挚的感谢。 首先感谢我的爸爸妈妈，感 谢您们这么多年的理解和支持。儿子这些年出国在外聚少离多，不能好好陪伴在 您们身边，希望你们照顾好自己。感谢梦爸和梦妈一直以来对我们的支持和照顾， 真的非常感谢您们！还有我所有的亲人们，谢谢你们的关心和照顾。My little girl, 小安Ruby, you are like a little angle landing in our little family, which makes our

life sweet and unforgettable. You bring laughter to our life with your cuteness and destroy our sweet dreams with your screaming in the midnight. Life is completely different upon your arrival. But you are making me a good father and a better man. For that, I want to thank you. Dad is trying to make a better life for you.

My dear wife, Zhuojun, I am so lucky to have you in my life. When I was frustrated from my experiments, you were there. When I was confused about our future, you were there. You are like a lighthouse, showing me the right direction whenever I felt lost and self-doubted. You are understanding, tolerant and encouraging and know to tell me to be down-to-earth whenever I was beside myself. Without your help and encouragement, I could not have finished my PhD study and my thesis. Life is a long journey and I can not wait to go through the next part with you.

Publications

1. A. S. Lubbe†, Q. Liu†, S. J. Smith, J. W. de Vries, J. C. M. Kistemaker, A. H. de Vries, I. Faustino, Z. Meng, W. Szymanski, Andreas Herrmann, B. L. Feringa, Photoswitching of DNA Hybridization Using a Molecular Motor. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140: 5069–5076.

2. Z. Meng,† Q. Liu,† M. Loznik, J. Sun, E. Polushkin, K. Liu, A. Herrmann, A Highly Stiff and Stretchable DNA Liquid Crystalline Organogels with Self-Healing and Magnetic-Responsive Properties. J. Am. Chem. Soc., under review.

3. Q. Liu, H. Fang, Z. Meng, H. Li, K. Liu, A. Herrmann, Fluorescence Properties of Lipid-DNA in Liquid and Liquid Crystal States. To be submitted.

4. Q. Liu,† A. Gruszka,† J. Hurst, J. W. de Vries,, F. Fröß, U. Hage, Z. Meng, K. U. B. Schmidt, S. Schnichels, A. Herrmann, M. Spitzer, Lipid Modified Aptamers as Vehicles for Ophthalmic Drug Delivery. To be submitted.

5. J. Yang,† Z. Meng,† Q. Liu, Y. Shimada, R. C. L. Olsthoorn, H. Spaink, A. Herrmann and A. Kros, Employing DNA Hybridization for Zebrafish Surface Engineering. Submitted to Chemical Science.

6. Y. Liu, J. W. de Vries, Q. Liu, A. M. Hartman, G. D. Wieland, S. Wieczorek, H. G. Börner, A. Wiehe, E. Buhler, M. C. A. Stuart, W. R. Browne, A. Herrmann, A. K. H. Hirsch, Lipid-DNAs as Solubilizers of mTHPC. Chem. Eur. J., 2018, 24: 798-802.

7. Z. Meng,† J. Yang,† Q. Liu, J. W. de Vries, A. Gruszka, A. R. Pulido, B. J. Crielaard, A. Kros, A Herrmann, Efficient Fusion of Liposomes by Nucleobase Quadruple-Anchored DNA. Chem. Eur. J., 2017, 23: 9391-9396.

8. J. Jin, M. Kwak, L. Xu, H. Kim, T. H. Lee, J. O Kim, Q. Liu, A. Herrmann, P. C.W. Lee, Administration of Soft Matter Lipid-DNA Nanoparticle as the Immunostimulant via Multiple Routes of Injection in vivo. ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., 2017, 3: 2054-2058.

9. L. Zhang, S. Maity, K. Liu, Q. Liu, W. H. Roos, A. Herrmann, Nematic DNA Thermotropic Liquid Crystals with Photo-Responsive Mechanical Properties. Small, 2017, 13.

10. H. B. Albada, J.W. de Vries, Q. Liu, E. Golub, N. Klement, A. Herrmann, I. Willner, Supramolecular Micelle-Based Nucleoapzymes for the Catalytic Oxidation of Dopamine to Aminochrome. Chem. Commun., 2016, 52: 5561-5564.

11. K. Liu, D. Pesce, M. Chao, M. Tuchband, M. Shuai, D. Chen, J. Su, Q. Liu, J. Y. Gerasimov, A. Kolbe, W. Zajaczkowski, W. Pisula, K. Müllen, N. A. Clark, A Herrmann, Solvent-Free Liquid Crystals Based on Genetically Engineered Supercharged Polypeptides with High Elasticity. Adv. Mater., 2015, 27: 2459-2465.

12. K. Liu, M. Shuai, D. Chen, M. Tuchband, J. Y. Gerasimov, J. Su, Q. Liu, W. Zajaczkowski, W. Pisula, K. Müllen, N. A. Clark, A. Herrmann, Solvent-Free Liquid Crystals and Liquids from DNA. Chem. Eur. J., 2015, 21: 4898-4903. 13. K. Liu,† L. Zheng,† Q. Liu, J. W. de Vries, J. Y. Gerasimov, A. Herrmann, Nucleic

Acid Chemistry in the Organic Phase: From Functionalized Oligonucleotides to DNA Side Chain Polymers. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2014, 136: 14255–14262. 14. B. Meng, J. Deng, Q. Liu, Z. Wu, W. Yang, Transparent and Ductile Poly(lactic

acid)/Poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) Blends: Structure and Properties. European Polymer Journal. 2012, 48: 127–135.