CRISPR-Cas9 is a cutting-edge genome editing technology, which uses the endonuclease Cas9 to introduce mutations at desired sites of the genome. This revolutionary tool is promising to treat a myriad of human genetic diseases. Nevertheless, the molecular basis of DNA cleavage, which is a fundamental step for genome editing, has not been established. Here, quantum–classical molecular dynamics (MD) and free energy methods are used...

This thesis is located between the fields of research on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KRR), Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) and Model Driven Engineering (MDE). The modern offspring of KRR - Description Logic (DL) [Baad03] is considered here as a formalization of the software engineering Methods & Tools. The bridge between the world of formal specification (governed by the mathematics)...

At the core of the CRISPR–Cas9 genome-editing technology, the endonuclease Cas9 introduces site-specific breaks in DNA. However, precise mechanistic information to ameliorate Cas9 function is still missing. Here, multimicrosecond molecular dynamics, free energy and multiscale simulations are combined with solution NMR and DNA cleavage experiments to resolve the catalytic mechanism of target DNA cleavage. We show that the conformation...

A dinuclear hydrogen evolution photocatalyst [(tbbpy)2Os(tpphz)PtI2](PF6)2 (tbbpy = 4,4′-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine; tpphz = tetrapyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c:2′′,3′′-h:2′′′,3′′′-j]phenazine) is synthesized in order to make use of the broader range of visible light absorption mitigated by the osmium center. In a first step, the activity of the complex for hydrogen evolution is investigated by evaluating the role of different electron donors...