My current project on presence management is heavily dependent on sensors. It is based on the premise that in future technology would already be embedded in our environment. Our system will basically integrate the data and analyze them to help derive meaningful insights about our family.
This article highlights a remarkable discovery by Krishnan from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. Her team has tried to embed cargo in the DNA nanostructures to investigate biological processes.
Extract:
DNA rods can be joined together at junctions to create two-dimensional matrices, and these, in turn, can be piled up to form elaborate scaffolds. The objects created can be rigid, “like baskets”, or dynamic like “scissors, whose flexibility gives it function.”
Schematic of an icosahedron made from DNA containing nanoscale cargo within its internal void
Krishnan’s next project was more ambitious. Using DNA junctions that had five open ends, she created an icosahedron, a solid shaped a bit like a ball, except with 20 triangular faces instead of a smooth curve. It took a week of reactions in the laboratory to do this.
A natural, fluorescent polymer (also an indicator of acidity) was encapsulated within the DNA icosahedron. The compound was once again injected into a worm, and in a repeat of the previous success, it went straight to the very same cells. Except that the implications this time around were far greater.
While the entire research is now shifted to ubiquitous computing, it would be interesting to see how synthetic biology can help shift our perceptions of the way we function and how we could design objects.
No comments:
Post a Comment