ZMB Member Barbara Saccà

ZMB Member
Barbara Saccà

Next ZMB-Member
portrait photo of ZMB member Barbara Saccà
© UDE/B.Saccà

Prof. Dr. Barbara Saccà

Group

Bionanotechnology

Center of Medical Biotechnology (ZMB)
Faculty of Biology
University of Duisburg-Essen
Universitätsstr. 2
45141 Essen

Research Overview

Our main goal is to create programmable nanoscale compartments that emulate essential features of biological systems. By controlling molecular interactions inside these nanosized compartments and across their boundaries, we aim to establish DNA-based nanoarchitectures as powerful tools to dissect, reconstruct, and ultimately engineer biological function from the bottom up.

Research Focus
We investigate the effect of nanoconfinement on (multivalent) binding interactions and analyze how complex formation is affected by the geometric arrangement, flexibility, and stoichiometry of ligands, as well as unspecific electrostatic interactions at the host-guest interface and the presence of molecular crowders.

A particular focus lies on protein behavior within the nanosized lumen. We study how confinement affects the kinetics of enzymes, the motion of molecular motors, and the spatial orientation of proteins under defined geometrical constraints.

Beyond internal processes, we explore how DNA nanocompartments communicate with their surroundings. By engineering the permeability characteristics of these nanochambers, we aim to precisely regulate the entry and exit of molecules and thus control the exchange of information across the compartment boundary.

A recent advancement in our research focuses on the interaction between DNA nanocompartments and lipid bilayers, aiming to integrate these nanodevices in cellular model systems.

how DNA nanocompartments communicate with their surroundings
© B.Saccà
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Selected Publications

    Journal articles

  • Huang, Jing; Jaekel, Andreas; van den Boom, Johannes; Podlesainski, David; Elnaggar, M.; Heuer-Jungemann, A.; Kaiser, Markus; Meyer, Hemmo; Saccà, Barbara
    A modular DNA origami nanocompartment for engineering a cell-free, protein unfolding and degradation pathway
    In: Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 19, 2024, Nr. 10, pp. 1521 – 1531
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Sacca, Barbara
    Engineering modular enzymes using DNA origami
    In: Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 19, 2024, Nr. 10, pp. 1440 – 1441
    DOI
  • Winat, Lena; Sacca, Barbara
    The primordial life of DNA dynamic networks
    In: Nature Catalysis, Vol. 3, 2020, Nr. 11, pp. 865 – 866
    DOI
  • Kosinski, Richard; Mukhortava, Ann; Pfeifer, Wolfgang; Candelli, Andrea; Rauch, Philipp; Sacca, Barbara
    Sites of high local frustration in DNA origami
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 10, 2019, Nr. 1, pp. 1061
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Pfeifer, Wolfgang; Lill, Pascal; Gatsogiannis, Christos; Sacca, Barbara
    Hierarchical Assembly of DNA Filaments with Designer Elastic Properties
    In: ACS Nano, Vol. 12, 2018, Nr. 1, pp. 44 – 55
    DOI
  • Sprengel, Andreas; Lill, Pascal; Stegemann, Pierre; Bravo-Rodriguez, Kenny; Schöneweiß, Elisa-Charlott; Merdanovic, Melisa; Gudnason, Daniel; Aznauryan, Mikayel; Gamrad, Lisa; Barcikowski, Stephan; Sánchez-García, Elsa; Birkedal, Victoria; Gatsogiannis, Christos; Ehrmann, Michael; Sacca, Barbara
    Tailored protein encapsulation into a DNA host using geometrically organized supramolecular interactions
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 8, 2017, pp. 14472
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Streich, Carmen; Akkari, Laura; Decker, Christina; Bormann, Jenny; Rehbock, Christoph; Müller-Schiffmann, Andreas; Niemeyer, Felix; Nagel-Steger, Luitgard; Willbold, Dieter; Sacca, Barbara; Kor, Carsten
    Characterizing the Effect of Multivalent Conjugates Composed of Aβ-Specific Ligands and Metal Nanoparticles on Neurotoxic Fibrillar Aggregation
    In: ACS Nano, 2016, pp. 7582 – 7597
    DOI
  • Poepsel, Simon; Sprengel, Andreas; Sacca, Barbara; Kaschani, Farnusch; Kaiser, Markus; Gatsogiannis, Christos; Raunser, Stefan; Clausen, Tim; Ehrmann, Michael
    Determinants of amyloid fibril degradation by the PDZ protease HTRA1
    In: Nature Chemical Biology, Vol. 11, 2015, Nr. 11, pp. 862 – 869
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Sacca, Barbara; Ishitsuka, Yuji; Meyer, Rebecca; Sprengel, Andreas; Schöneweiß, Elisa-Charlott; Nienhaus, G. Ulrich; Niemeyer, Christof M.
    Reversible reconfiguration of DNA origami nanochambers monitored by single-molecule FRET
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 54, 2015, Nr. 12, pp. 3592 – 3597
    DOI
  • Meyer, Rebecca; Sacca, Barbara; Niemeyer, Christof M.
    Site-Directed, on-surface assembly of DNA nanostructures
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 54, 2015, Nr. 41, pp. 12039 – 12043
    DOI
  • Sacca, Barbara; Niemeyer, Christof M.
    DNA Origami : The Art of Folding DNA
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 51, 2012, Nr. 1, pp. 58 – 66
    DOI
  • Sacca, Barbara; Niemeyer, Christof M.
    Functionalization of DNA nanostructures with proteins
    In: Chemical Society Reviews, Vol. 40, 2011, Nr. 12, pp. 5910 – 5921
    DOI
  • Sacca, Barbara; Niemeyer, Christof M.; Rabe, Kersten; Schroeder, Hendrik; Arndt, Andreas; Kiko, Kathrin; Erkelenz, Michael; Meyer, Rebecca
    Orthogonal Protein Decoration of DNA Origami
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 49, 2010, Nr. 49, pp. 9378 – 9383
    DOI
  • Feldkamp, Udo; Niemeyer, Christof M.; Sacca, Barbara
    Dendritic DNA Building Blocks for Amplified Detection Assays and Biomaterials
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 48, 2009, Nr. 33, pp. 5996 – 6000
    DOI
  • Sacca, Barbara; Niemeyer, Christof M.; Schroeder, Hendrik; Feldkamp, Udo; Meyer, Rebecca
    High-Throughput, Real-Time Monitoring of the Self-Assembly of DNA Nanostructures by FRET Spectroscopy
    In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 47, 2008, Nr. 11, pp. 2135 – 2137
    DOI
  • Mergny, Jean-Louis; De Cian, Anne; Ghelab, Amar; Sacca, Barbara; Lacroix, Laurent
    Kinetics of tetramolecular quadruplexes
    In: Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 33, 2005, Nr. 1, pp. 81 – 94
    DOI
  • Amrane, Samir; Sacca, Barbara; Mills, Martin; Chauhan, Madhu; Klump, Horst H.; Mergny, Jean-Louis
    Length-dependent energetics of (CTG)n and (CAG)n trinucleotide repeats
    In: Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 33, 2005, Nr. 13, pp. 4065 – 4077
    DOI
  • Sacca, Barbara; Lacroix, Laurent; Mergny, Jean-Louis
    The effect of chemical modifications on the thermal stability of different G-quadruplex-forming oligonucleotides
    In: Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 33, 2005, Nr. 4, pp. 1182 – 1192
    DOI
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