Our Proprietary Approach
Parabon NanoLabs’ Essemblix™ Drug Development Platform — a powerful combination of proprietary computer-aided design (CAD) software for designing macromolecules and nanoscale fabrication technology for their production — enables molecular engineering in a novel and revolutionary fashion, replacing the current paradigm of "drug discovery," which is slow, unpredictable and costly, with a new "drug design" paradigm that is rapid, deliberate and more affordable.
Key to the approach is the use of synthetic DNA as a programmable molecular substrate. Although DNA is best known as a carrier of genetic information, strands of synthetic DNA can be constructed to have any sequence of bases (often represented by the letters A, C, G and T). Because complementary sequences of DNA are mutually attractive, synthetic strands can be “programmed” with sequences that cause them to “swim to the right spot,” with respect to one another, and then bind to form nanostructures of virtually any shape. Before self-assembly is induced, DNA strands can be attached to other types of molecular subcomponents so that they are pulled into designated locations by the DNA strands during self-assembly.
Using the Essemblix™ Drug Development Platform, Parabon NanoLabs can rapidly move candidate drug designs through the concept-to-construction product cycle.
The Parabon inSēquio Sequence Design Studio — the Quintessential Application for Designing DNA-based Nanostructures.
The inSēquio Sequence Design Studio allows Parabon’s pharmaceutical engineers to graphically enter designs and then, using the extreme-scale computing capacity of Parabon's Frontier® Grid Platform, determines the optimal DNA sequences that will self-assemble into the specified design. inSēquio's simple-to-use graphical editor allows nano-engineers to lay out a nanostructure visually. Users can rotate and bend strands, define bindings between base pairs, and copy and paste sequences and structures between design documents. The editor supports the IOS file format for representing DNA nanostructures, a powerful new XML schema destined to become the industry standard, developed at Parabon NanoLabs.
The inSēquio Sequence Design Studio
Nanoscale Fabrication Technology
Using its complementary binding properties, DNA can be
"programmed" to self-assemble into target designs.
The diagram above illustrates how DNA strands can be programmed to form
motifs from which more complex structures can be constructed.
Uniquely Addressable and Functionalizable Structures
DNA self-assembly is a bottom-up fabrication technique with
molecular scale resolution.
The resultant structures have the important characteristic of being
uniquely addressable. The image to the upper left shows the letters
D-N-A "written" with fluorophores. Just as easily, they can be
functionalized with rich combinations of enzymes, aptamers, antibodies,
and pharmaceuticals.
An example of fine-grained control: Square "origami" with
holes designed into strips.
From the laboratory of Dr. Michael Norton, Co-founder, Parabon NanoLabs
Placement Control
Ten precisely placed steptavidin proteins. The zigzag on the
left is intentional (compared to the linear right side) and
demonstrates
placement control at sub-6nm resolution. Although not apparent in this
image, every other protein is facing the opposite side of the grid. The
synthesis is modular, i.e., any kind of protein (not just the same one)
can be placed at any location.
Image from Dr. Chris Dwyer, Co-founder, Parabon NanoLabs