Dr. Björn Högberg’s lab is funded by the Göran Gustafsson Foundation and develops DNA-based methods and molecular tools for cell biology research.
According to published reports, a groundbreaking advancement in cancer treatment: nanorobots armed with concealed weapons are selectively destroying cancer cells.
Professor Björn Högberg and his team at the Karolinska Institutet developed an innovative technology that utilizes a DNA-based nanostructure to shield the weapon until it reaches the tumor microenvironment.
This targeted approach minimizes harm to healthy cells
Molecular tools for cell biology
By using DNA-origami, we can construct precise patterns of different molecules on a nanometer scale. Using these, we can probe the effect the distance has on several cellular mechanisms. In this effort, we use cell culture, super-resolution microscopy, electron microscopy, and next-generation sequencing. We are also developing new (non-origami) DNA probes to detect splicing events and protein clustering in-situ.
Development of DNA self-assembly technology
The second part of the lab is focused on research on the basics of DNA self-assembly and nanotechnology to improve their suitability for the above applications. Among other things, we are developing a new design paradigm for DNA nanotechnology using a new type of triangulated mesh.
Imaging using sequencing alone
Lastly, we are developing new sequencing-based techniques to image tissue without microscopy. The idea is to use sequence information from probes that are allowed to react with each other to form concatamers of sequences that can be deciphered to deduce neighbor-to-neighbor information and eventually deduce images from molecular data.