DNA Bricks Have Potential Applications in Several Nanotech and Biotech Fields

Each brick has four consecutive eight-base domains, and they assemble at right angles to complementary interlocking oligonucleotides guided by these eight-base domains. A computer program developed in the laboratory of Dr. Pen Yin, assistant professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School, then "paints" the oligonucleotides onto a virtual molecular canvas that is represented as 10 x 10 x 10 cubic volumetric pixel elements or "voxels.” A three-dimensional shape is created by withholding individual voxels from the brick, and the software then determines which oligonucleotides are required to form the resulting three-dimensional canvas structure.

DNA bricks can be easily modified with other functional molecules, such as fluorophores, and can serve as a scaffold for growing other molecular matrices, such as those formed from SiO2, which have many material applications.

Related Links:
Harvard Medical School
Integrated DNA Technologies