Experts employed DNA origami to fabricate hybrid nanostructures
Researchers from the Moscow Pedagogical State University have, for the first time in Russia, produced hybrid nanostructures utilizing the advanced DNA origami technique. This was announced by the Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Andrey Naumov, who chairs the department at MSPU and heads the Troitsk branch of the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute.
This methodology involves leveraging DNA molecules as the building blocks for assembling nanometer-scale architectures possessing pre-determined characteristics. In the future, such elements could significantly enhance and reduce the size of components in electronics and photonics. In medicine, comparable nanostructures might function as highly sensitive diagnostic sensors or act as precise carriers for delivering pharmaceuticals to specific cells within the body.
The distinctiveness of the Russian investigators’ approach lies in exploiting a fundamental characteristic of DNA molecules: the capacity for their nucleotides to selectively link together based on the complementarity principle. This enables the programming and controlled assembly of intricate three-dimensional nanoscale constructions, paving fresh avenues for generating materials of the future.
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