This ‘plane’, made of DNA parts, is 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Credit: Ohio State University
With new software, more complex devices can be created.
Believe scientists one day small DNAbased robots and other nanotubes will deliver medicine into our bodies, detect the presence of deadly pathogens and make ever smaller electronics.
Researchers have taken a big step towards the future by developing a new tool that can design far more complex DNA robots and nanotubes than was ever possible in a fraction of the time.
In an article published in the magazine on April 19, 2021 Natural materials, Ohio State University researchers – led by former engineering doctoral student Chao-Min Huang – have introduced new software they call MagicDNA.
The software helps researchers design ways to take small pieces of DNA and combine them into complex structures with parts such as rotors and hinges that can move different tasks, including drug delivery.
This video shows a DNA nano-device made to look like an airplane in motion. The “plane” is 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Credit: Ohio State University
Researchers have been doing this for a number of years with slower tools with boring hand steps, said Carlos Castro, co-author of the study and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the state of Ohio.
“But now, nanotubes that we may have taken a few days to design before, we now only take a few minutes,” Castro said.
And now researchers can make much more complex – and useful – nano-devices.
“Previously, we could build devices with up to about six individual components and connect them with joints and hinges and try to perform complex movements,” said co-author of the study, Hai-Jun Su, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at the state Ohio said. .
“With this software, it is not difficult to make robots or other devices with more than 20 components that are much easier to control. This is a major step in our ability to design nano-devices that can perform the complex actions we want them to perform. ”
A robotic arm nano device with claw that can pick up smaller objects. Credit: Ohio State University
The software has a variety of benefits that can help scientists design better, more useful nanotubes and, according to the researchers, shorten the time they use daily.
One benefit is that it enables researchers to really execute the entire design in 3D. Earlier design aids allowed the creation in 2D only, forcing researchers to map their creations in 3D. This meant that designers could not make their devices too complex.
The software also enables designers to build DNA structures “from bottom to top” or “from bottom to bottom”.
In the bottom-up design, researchers take individual DNA strands and decide how they want to organize them into the structure, enabling fine control over the local device structure and properties.
But they can also follow a ‘top-down’ approach where they decide how to shape their overall device geometrically, and then automatically the way the DNA strands are put together.
By combining the two, the complexity of the overall geometry can be increased, while maintaining precise control over individual component properties, Castro said.
Another important element of the software is that it allows simulations of how designed DNA devices would move and work in the real world.
“As you complicate these structures, it’s difficult to predict exactly what it’s going to look like and what it’s going to look like,” Castro said.
‘It’s critical to be able to simulate how our devices will actually work. Otherwise we waste a lot of time. ”
As proof of the software’s ability, co-author Anjelica Kucinic, a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the State of Ohio, led the researchers to create and characterize many nanostructures designed by the software.
Some of the devices they created included robotic arms with claws that could hold smaller objects, and a hundred-nanometer-sized structure that looked like an airplane (the “airplane” is 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair).
The ability to make more complex nanotubes means they can do more useful things and even perform multiple tasks with one device, Castro said.
For example, it is one thing to have a DNA robot that can detect a certain pathogen after injection into the bloodstream.
“But a more complex device can not only detect that something bad is happening, but can also respond by releasing a drug or capturing the pathogen,” he said.
“We want to be able to design robots that respond in a certain way to a stimulus or move in a certain way.”
Castro said he expects the MagicDNA software to be used at universities and other research labs for the next few years. But its use may expand in the future.
“There will be more and more commercial interest in DNA nanotechnology,” he said. “I think we’ll start seeing commercial applications of DNA nano-devices within the next five to ten years, and we’m optimistic that this software can contribute to that.”
Reference: “Integrated Computer Aided Engineering and Design for DNA Compositions” by Chao-Min Huang, Anjelica Kucinic, Joshua A. Johnson, Hai-Jun Su and Carlos E. Castro, April 19, 2021, Natural materials.
Joshua Johnson, who earned his doctorate in biophysics from Ohio State, was also a co-author of the article.
The research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.