Rate My Professor Anton Kuzyk

Anton Kuzyk is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering at Aalto University, where he leads the Molecular Nanoengineering group. He earned his BSc in Applied Physics from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 2003, an MSc in Applied Physics in 2005, and a PhD in Physics in 2009 from the University of Jyväskylä. Following his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research at Helsinki University of Technology, Technical University of Munich—where his team published a landmark study in Nature on DNA-based self-assembly of chiral plasmonic nanostructures—and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. He joined Aalto University as Assistant Professor in August 2016, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020, and currently holds a full professorship. Additionally, he directs the Master’s program in Life Science Technologies.

Kuzyk’s research focuses on nanoscience, molecular self-assembly, and DNA nanotechnology, particularly DNA-based artificial molecular systems and machines controllable by light or electric fields, as well as chiral plasmonic nanostructures for biosensing, nanophotonics, and biomimetics. His group develops reconfigurable plasmonic metamolecules and stimuli-responsive assemblies. He has received the European Research Council Consolidator Grant in 2022 for a five-year project on electrically driven DNA-origami-based machines worth approximately 2 million euros, the Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers in 2013, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Individual Fellowship as supervisor in 2021, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Pioneer Innovation Grant in 2022. With over 8,400 citations on Google Scholar, his influential publications include “DNA-based self-assembly of chiral plasmonic nanostructures with tailored optical response” (Nature, 2012; 2,475 citations), “Reconfigurable 3D plasmonic metamolecules” (Nature, 2014; 753 citations), “Single-molecule kinetics and super-resolution microscopy by fluorescence imaging of transient binding on DNA origami” (2010; 1,097 citations), and “Advancing the Utility of DNA Origami Technique through Enhanced Stability of DNA-Origami-Based Assemblies” (Bioconjugate Chemistry, 2023).