The MIT Technology Review brings news of new nano building blocks: easily assembled DNA pyramids that may be useful for drug delivery or as the basis for future nanomachines:
In the work at Oxford, four strands of DNA served as the basis for the pyramids. Each strand makes up one triangular face. The edges of these triangles have open puzzle-piece sequences that bind to another edge of a triangle. As these edges meet, the triangles fold into the shape of a pyramid. Simply by mixing the right numbers of different strands together, the researchers have built trillions of pyramids — and in just seconds.
These simple structures may prove to be useful as containers, perhaps for drug delivery in the body. But they are also rigid structures that could be a starting point for many other, more complex structures. To get these building blocks to assemble into more complex structures, the Oxford researchers again turned to DNA. They incorporated loose strands into the structures with sequences designed to link to loose strands in neighboring pyramids.
More from Azonano…