DNA origami
DNA origami folds a long strand of DNA into chosen shapes and patterns a few nanometers in size, held in place by short DNA strands, like a pegboard on which other molecules can be placed exactly.
Caltech, 10 Mar 2016How far from your life: Usually 10 years or more from products, and most never get there.
Independently sourcedFrom lab to your life
Why it’s on step 1
- 1Lab discovery
- 2Working prototype
- 3Real-world testing
- 4Approved or on sale
- 5Everyday life
The rule
Shown in a lab or a computer model, in a published paper or preprint, with nothing on record beyond it yet.
- Paul Rothemund of Caltech published his method for folding DNA into shapes and patterns a few nanometers in size, in Nature. Caltech, 10 Mar 2016
The short version
What you need to know
- Why it matters
It lets researchers arrange proteins, gold particles or nanotubes in precise patterns that no other method can make, for example as tiny assembly lines of enzymes.
Caltech, 10 Mar 2016- How small
Its famous smiley faces are each about a thousandth of the width of a human hair.
Caltech, 10 Mar 2016- Is it really nano?
Truly nano
The shapes are built and measured in nanometers.
Caltech, 10 Mar 2016- Who’s behind it
Invented by Paul Rothemund at Caltech; used in labs worldwide
On the record
Every step, dated
Newest first. Company-reported means the only source so far is the company itself.
- Published research
Paul Rothemund of Caltech published his method for folding DNA into shapes and patterns a few nanometers in size, in Nature.
Caltech, 10 Mar 2016
Sources
Where every line comes from
Each source with the passage, word for word, that backs what we wrote.
- Caltech, 10 Mar 2016
into shapes and patterns on the scale of a few nanometers.
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- Molecular machines and motorsStep 1 · LabChemists can build single molecules with parts that move relative to each other when energy is added: rings that slide along rods, and motors that spin in one direction.