November 30, 2012 Scientists build with DNA bricks Researchers
at Harvard's Wyss Institute have coaxed single strands of DNA to
fit together like Lego bricks and form scores of complex three-
dimensional shapes, including a teeny-tiny space shuttle. The
technique, described in this week's issue of the journal
Science, adds a new dimension to molecular construction and
should help open the way for nanoscale medical and electronic
devices. "This is a simple, versatile and robust method," the
study's senior author, Peng Yin, said in a news release. The
method starts with synthetic strands of DNA that take in just 32
nucleotides, or molecular bits of genetic code. These individual
"bricks" are coded in a way that they fit together like Lego
pegs and holes to form larger shapes of a specific design. A
cube built up from 1,000 such bricks (10 by 10 by 10) measures
just 25 nanometers in width. That's thousands of times smaller
than the diameter of a single human hair. The latest research
builds upon work that the Wys