DNA Origami

DNA origami is the nanoscale folding of DNA to create non-arbitrary two- and three-dimensional shapes at the nanoscale. The specificity of the interactions between complementary base pairs make DNA a useful construction material, through design of its base sequences.

Details:

• DNA Origami involves making shapes out of DNA in two and three dimensions. This can however only be done at the nanoscale. Since then, it has gone beyond being a niche hobby art form.
• It has found a number of applications — from drug delivery systems to uses as circuitry in plasmonic devices. 
• While it usually has to be built like Lego blocks, researchers now claim to have developed a new algorithm that allows the programmed design of a wide range of DNA structures. 
• The development holds important implications for numerous fields, including nanoparticle synthesis and delivery, photonics and memory storage, among others.