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Alan Biloski, CEO of DNANO Systems, and Sang Yeon Kwan, staff scientist, have moved DNANO Systems to the McGovern Center.

Cornell's biotechnology business incubator has just welcomed another client: DNANO Systems LLC.

DNANO Systems, founded in 2005, employs proprietary DNA-based, cell-free protein expression technology invented in the lab of Dan Luo, professor of biological and environmental engineering.

It is the second early-stage company to occupy space in the Kevin M. McGovern Family Center for Venture Development in the Life Sciences, located in Weill Hall and founded with the goal of incubating high-potential life science technology businesses at Cornell.

DNANO Systems' core technology is using synthetic DNA as a generic (as well as genetic) building block. Strands of DNA are designed with half-complementary sequences as 3-D, tree-like shapes that form Ys or crosses, which in turn, link to form a soft material called a hydrogel. When connected with a gene, the gel, which the scientists call a P-gel, can rapidly produce a large amount of proteins in test tubes without live cells.

The company's principals are exploring how to commercialize the seemingly limitless potential of the 3-D DNA nanostructures and P-gels in applications including drug development and delivery, and diagnostic tests. Among its current projects, said Alan Biloski, Ph.D. '82 and CEO of DNANO Systems, are a lab-based rapid strep test, point-of-care tests for chlamydia, gonorrhea and tuberculosis, and a series of immunoregulatory drugs.

"The beauty of the technology that [Luo] has discovered and developed is that it's simple and fast, it has a high probability of working in different applications, and it's scalable," Biloski said. The company also has recruited staff scientist Sang Yeon Kwon, M.Eng. '05, who previously worked in Luo's lab as a student, and is now back in Ithaca from his native Korea.

Biloski said the company is actively hiring more scientists and hopes to recruit venture capital while perfecting various uses of the DNA technology in the next 12 to 18 months.