Beckman Laser Institute

STACY COPP, PH.D.
2026-05-21 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Stacy Copp, UC Irvine Materials Science and Engineering

Title: Into the infrared: Programmable DNA-templated nanoclusters as designer probes for fluorescence imaging

Abstract: Fluorescent nanoclusters are emerging as promising new labels for biological imaging, but biocompatible nanoclusters that are well-suited for such applications remain limited. We are investigating DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters as promising materials for biomedical imaging modalities. DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters exhibit a diversity of photoluminescence properties that are uniquely tuned by DNA sequence. These nanoclusters hold particular promise as near-infrared (NIR) emitters for deep tissue imaging, but NIR emitters remain rare and DNA sequence space is immense, making it highly challenging to select the right DNA oligomers that produce desired nanocluster properties. We address this challenge using machine learning (ML) to connect DNA sequence to photoluminescence spectral properties. High-throughput experiments generate large training data libraries, and ML models trained on these models guide the selection of DNA sequences that template NIR-emitting nanoclusters. Moreover, the models can also be interpreted to gain new chemical insights into how DNA sequence controls nanocluster properties. Then, by preparing atomically precise solutions of DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters, we investigate the structures and properties of these nanoclusters, including multi-photon excitation and chiroptical response. Our ongoing work is focused on functionalizing these nanoclusters for targeted molecular imaging and for integration into DNA nanotechnologies.
Bio: Stacy Copp is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in Chemistry, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Physics. She is also a Joint Appointee at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Copp received a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Arizona (2011) and a PhD in Physics from UC Santa Barbara (2016). She held a Hoffman Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship and L’Oreal USA for Women in Science Fellowship at Los Alamos National Lab, before joining UC Irvine in 2019. At UC Irvine, she leads the Molecular Nanomaterials Lab, whose mission is to harness DNA and synthetic polymers as programmable building blocks for nanoscale materials. Copp has pioneered machine learning approaches to DNA nanomaterials design, including the discovery of DNA-templated silver nanoclusters with sequence-selected atomic sizes and fluorescence colors. Her research has been recognized by recent awards such as the AFOSR Young Investigator Award, DOE Early Career Research Program Award, DEVCOM ARL HBCU/MI Early Career Program Award, and NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. In her spare time, she enjoys running, hiking, and the extreme sport of parenting.
