Chad A. Mirkin Developing methods for controlling the architecture of molecules & materials on the 1 - 100 nm length scale

Research Interests

The Mirkin lab focuses on the development and application of spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) in biology, the life sciences, and medicine. These novel structures are the basis for highly sensitive and selective genetic and immunoassays for detecting disease targets at ultra-low concentrations, highly efficacious gene regulation and immunotherapy methodologies for treating many diseases, and extremely useful intracellular detection schemes (nanoflare technology) for the quantitative analysis of the genetic content in single live cells. Remarkably, these highly negatively charged SNA nanostructures do not require cationic transfection agents or additional particle surface modifications and naturally enter all cell lines tested to date (over 60, including primary cells) in high quantities. Using coreless versions of SNAs, Mirkin has proved that the novel properties of these structures, including their efficient cellular uptake and resistance to intracellular degradation, are due to the dense and highly oriented arrangement of the nucleic acids comprising the ligand shell. Mirkin’s SNA technology is advancing medicine by outperforming traditionally used probes and agents in a variety of applications due to their unique nanoscale physical and chemical properties that result from their unusual three-dimensional structure.

Selected Publications

DNA Dendron Tagging as a Universal Way to Deliver Proteins to Cells. Ngo KH, Distler ME, Evangelopoulos M, Ocampo T, Ma Y, Minorik AJ, Mirkin CA. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 2, 2129-2136.

DNA Anchoring Strength Directly Correlates with Spherical Nucleic Acid-Based HPV E7 Cancer Vaccine Potency. Hwang J, Dittmar JW, Jang J, Ocampo T, Evangelopoulos M, Han Z, Kudruk S, Lorch J, Mirkin CA. Nano Lett. 2024 Jun 26;24(25):7629-7636.

Cellular Export Fate of Liposomal Spherical Nucleic Acids. Paranandi KS, Lee A, Stanic N, Mirkin CA. ACS Nano. 2023 Oct 10;17(19):19000-19010.

Multi-antigen spherical nucleic acid cancer vaccines. Teplensky MH, Evangelopoulos M, Dittmar JW, Forsyth CM, Sinegra AJ, Wang S, and Mirkin CA. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 2023 July;7(7):911-927.

Spherical Nucleic Acid Vaccine Structure Markedly Influences Adaptive Immune Responses of Clinically Utilized Prostate Cancer Targets. Teplensky MH, Dittmar JW, Qin L, Wang S, Evangelopoulos M, Zhang B, Mirkin CA. Adv Healthc Mater. 2021 Nov;10(22):e2101262.

Rational vaccinology with spherical nucleic acids. Wang S, Qin L, Yamankurt G, Skakuj K, Huang Z, Chen P-C, Dominguez D, Lee A, Zhang B, and Mirkin CA. PNAS. 2019 May 21;116(21):10473-10481.

View all publications by Chad A. Mirkin listed in the National Library of Medicine (PubMed). Current and former IBiS students in blue.