Excess DNA tiles support lifespan of nanotubes

By Stephen Riffle August 14, 2019

With its highly specific base pairing and sequence-independent structure, DNA represents a versatile material that can be easily manipulated to form a myriad of nanoscale structures, including spring-loaded boxes and nanotubes. Such structures may find application in targeted drug delivery, medical diagnostics, and synthetic biology so long as researchers are able to find a way to protect them from the rapid degradation that occurs in harsh environments, such as the human body. One way to do this, according to two biomolecular engineers at The Johns Hopkins University, Yi Li and Rebecca Schulman, is to facilitate DNA self-healing.

Read the full write-up on MRS Bulletin.

Read the Nano Letters abstract.