The project will probe sensing and application of force and related vectors specific to biological self - assembly as a means of synthetic biology and
nanoscale construction.
OIST researchers have made
a nanoscale construction kit comprised of molecular «bricks» and «scaffolding», inspired by the way the extracellular matrix is built around living cells.
In a new twist on the use of DNA in
nanoscale construction, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators put synthetic strands of the biological material to work in two ways: They used ropelike configurations of the DNA double helix to form a rigid geometrical framework, and added dangling pieces of single - stranded DNA to glue nanoparticles in place.
This nanoscale construction approach takes advantage of two key characteristics of the DNA molecule: the twisted - ladder double helix shape, and the natural tendency of strands with complementary bases (the A, T, G, and C letters of the genetic code) to pair up in a precise way.
The resulting «designer nanotubes,» she adds, promise to be far cheaper to produce on a large scale than those created with so - called DNA origami, another innovative technique for using DNA as
a nanoscale construction material.
Nanoscale construction is a field of nanotechnology that uses nanomaterials as basic building blocks to create materials with specific features.
Researchers from North Carolina State University, Duke University and the University of Copenhagen have created the world's largest DNA origami, which are
nanoscale constructions with applications ranging from biomedical research to nanoelectronics.
Not exact matches
M+W Group is also working on
construction of the $ 365 million NanoFab X building at the University at Albany's College of
Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
«Molecular scaffolding aids
construction at the
nanoscale.»
Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have built two new
nanoscale machines with moving parts, using DNA as a programmable, self - assembling
construction material.
Construction at the
nanoscale presents a unique set of challenges.
It doesn't rely on
nanoscale patterns, but instead is a simple sandwich of alternating nanometer - thick layers of silver and titanium dioxide, the
construction of which is routine.
«These results improve our understanding of friction and thermal motion at the
nanoscale and will be helpful in the design and
construction of future nanodevices,» says Christoph Dellago, one of the authors of the study.
Over the past decade, researchers have been working to create
nanoscale materials and devices using DNA as
construction materials through a process called «DNA origami.»