{"346841":{"#nid":"346841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Research team scales DNA bricks to size of a speck of dust","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDNA bricks keep getting larger. In 2012, a team of researchers at Harvard described their ability to make self-assembling structures \u2013made completely out of DNA \u2014 that were about the size of viruses (80 nanometers across).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow they\u2019re scaling up, making bricks that are 1000 times larger and getting close to a size that could be barely visible to the naked eye.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe advances were reported in \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nchem\/journal\/v6\/n11\/full\/nchem.2083.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature Chemistry\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWho: A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard led by Peng Yin, and including\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Yonggang-Ke\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EYonggang Ke\u003C\/a\u003E, PhD, now an assistant professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt Emory, Ke and his team are continuing to design 3D DNA machines, with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0959440X14000827\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Epotential functions\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;such as fluorescent nanoantennae, drug delivery vehicles and synthetic membrane channels.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHow: The DNA brick method uses short, synthetic strands of DNA that work like interlocking Lego\u00ae bricks to build complex structures. Structures are first designed using a computer model of a molecular cube, which becomes a master canvas. Each brick is added or removed independently from the 3D master canvas to arrive at the desired shape. The DNA strands that would match up to achieve the desired structure are mixed together and self assemble \u2014 with the help of magnesium salts \u2014 to achieve the designed crystal structures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTherein lies the key distinguishing feature of our design strategy\u2013its modularity,\u201d Ke says. \u201cThe ability to simply add or remove pieces from the master canvas makes it easy to create virtually any design.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat for: As part of this study the team demonstrated the ability to position gold nanoparticles less than two nanometers apart from each other along the crystal structure \u2014 a critical feature for future quantum computational devices and a significant technical advance for their scalable production.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:qeastma@emory.edu\u0022\u003EQuinn Eastman\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScience Writer\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch Communications for Emory University\u0027s Woodruff Health Sciences Center\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Scaling up to a speck of dust"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScaling up to a speck of dust\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Scaling up to a speck of dust"}],"uid":"27159","created_gmt":"2014-11-18 08:15:25","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:30","author":"Vickie Okrzesik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-11-04T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-11-04T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"346851":{"id":"346851","type":"image","title":"Researchers have achieved 32 different\u2013shaped crystal structures using the DNA\u2013brick self\u2013assembly method. Credit: Harvard\u0027s Wyss Institute","body":null,"created":"1449245670","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:14:30","changed":"1475895071","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:11","alt":"Researchers have achieved 32 different\u2013shaped crystal structures using the DNA\u2013brick self\u2013assembly method. Credit: Harvard\u0027s Wyss Institute","file":{"fid":"200946","name":"dnabrickcrystals-250x263_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dnabrickcrystals-250x263_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dnabrickcrystals-250x263_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":84879,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dnabrickcrystals-250x263_0_0.jpg?itok=2sfUxPaS"}},"346861":{"id":"346861","type":"image","title":"Yonggang Ke, PhD","body":null,"created":"1449245670","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:14:30","changed":"1475895071","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:11","alt":"Yonggang Ke, PhD","file":{"fid":"200947","name":"yonggangke.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/yonggangke_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/yonggangke_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":13841,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/yonggangke_0.jpg?itok=ndWQ-HA6"}}},"media_ids":["346851","346861"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/news.emory.edu\/stories\/2014\/10\/hspub_blog_speck_of_dust\/campus.html","title":"Emory | news center"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.emoryhealthsciblog.com\/scaling-speck-dust\/","title":"Lab Land"},{"url":"http:\/\/wyss.harvard.edu\/viewpressrelease\/173\/crystallizing-the-dna-nanotechnology-dream","title":"Harvard\u0027s Wyss Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"110161","name":"DNA brick"},{"id":"247","name":"Emory"},{"id":"3264","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"110131","name":"Yonggang Ke"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:qeastma@emory.edu\u0022\u003EQuinn Eastman\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScience Writer\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch Communications for Emory University\u0027s Woodruff Health Sciences Center\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOffice: 404-727-7829\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["qeastma@emory.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}