DNA origami

Although a fascinating field of science, nanotechnology is not my cup of tea, however it gets alot more interesting when the use of DNA to create nanoscale structures is involved:

"DNA: it's not just for geneticists anymore. This has been a gradual realization over the past decade or so, as a small but growing cadre of nanotechnology-oriented researchers have begun working with the double helix as a building material for a variety of nanoscale structures. One such researcher, Paul Rothemund of the California Institute of Technology, got an early start in the field when, as an undergraduate in 1992, he undertook a project exploring the idea of DNA-based computing—a technology he continues to explore 14 years later"

"Precise molecular patterning is important for the design of higher-order DNA-based devices, but most techniques for building complex DNA structures require the laborious assembly of many small oligonucleotides in multiple reactions steps. A very recent alternative is the use of many short oligonucleotides to anchor a single, long "scaffold DNA" molecule into any of a variety of two-dimensional shapes, a process termed "DNA origami'


"A new twist for DNA" , Nature Methods 3, 333 (2006)
"Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns", Rothemund PWK, Nature 440, 297-302 (16 March 2006)