Computer Software Folds DNA Into Bunny Shapes
Macroscopic printout of the DNA model of the bunny and other shapes.Erik Benson and Björn Högberg3D printing on the nanoscale--which could lead to new methods of drug delivery--just became a lot closer to reality. Folding DNA into tiny 3D shapes usually requires manual adjustment, but now a research team has developed a new way of folding DNA that's done entirely by software. They've already tried it out by folding DNA into the shape of a miniature bunny figurine and other small shapes. They new, more efficient method was published today in Nature.The structures that the team created are physiologically stable, meaning that they don’t degrade inside the body. The researchers are hoping they can be immediately tried as a new way to deliver drugs to the right place in the body.The new printing method is based on a famous mathematical question from the early eighteenth century,...