Scientist III
Kate Brown received her Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from MIT in 2008 working with Prof. Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli. Her thesis work centered on understanding and controlling the interactions of DNA with nanoparticle surfaces. Specifically, she analyzed the competing effects of covalent attachment via thiol modification and non-covalent nucleotide adsorption using binding isotherms. The effects of both nanoparticle size variation and DNA sequence variation were investigated. The effect of non-covalent DNA adsorption was further investigated through hybridization efficiency studies, and it was found that non-covalent adsorption interferes with complement hybridization. Control of this effect was achieved through surface modification to alleviate non-covalent nucleotide "sticking". Dr. Brown's current research involves structure function studies of [FeFe] – hydrogenase from Clostridium acetobutylicum using spectroscopic techniques, and probing of protein-nanomaterial interactions.
Selected Publications
- Park, S.; Brown, K.A.; Hamad-Schifferli, K. (2004). "Changes in Oligonucleotide Conformation on Nanoparticle Surfaces by Modification with Mercaptohexanol." Nano Letters (4); p. 1925.
- Wijaya, A. J.D. Alper, K. Hamad-Schifferli; Brown, K.A.; Alper, J.D.; Hamad-Schifferli, K. (2007). "Magnetic field heating study of Fe-doped Au nanoparticles." Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (309); p. 15. Accessed July 19, 2012: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304885306007542.
- Brown, K.A. ; Park, S.; Hamad-Schifferli, K. (2008). "Nucleotide−Surface Interactions in DNA-Modified Au−Nanoparticle Conjugates: Sequence Effects on Reactivity and Hybridization." J. Phys. Chem. C (112); p. 7517.
