Researchers Develop Microscopic Nano- Robot Entirely from DNA.
Photo Credit: INSERM, twitter.
Researchers Develop Microscopic Nano- Robot Entirely from DNA.
The wake to a new day in today’s world, is a wake to new, advanced and groundbreaking strides in technology promising a better future that says goodbye to obsolete and tasking ways of carrying out our activities, to unimaginably easier ways of doing things.
You would be forgiven for thinking the headliner you read is from some science fiction movie. Shockingly this is reality and has come to make medical research easier.
INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) researchers recently have completed construction of a tiny nano-robot completely out of DNA and will be utilizing this in the study of those invisible processes and activities that go on in the cells that make up our bodies.
The Montpelier based institute employed the DNA origami technology that enables the self-assembly of 3D nanostructures in a predefined form using the DNA molecule as construction material. Over the last ten years, the technique has allowed major advances in the field of nanotechnology.
This enabled the researchers to design a “nano-robot” composed of three DNA origami structures. Of nanometric size, it is therefore compatible with the size of a human cell. It makes it possible for the first time to apply and control a force with a resolution of 1 piconewton, namely one trillionth of a Newton — with 1 Newton corresponding to the force of a finger clicking on a pen. This is the first time that a human-made, self-assembled DNA-based object can apply force with this accuracy.
The team began by coupling the robot with a molecule that recognizes a mechanoreceptor. This made it possible to direct the robot to some of our cells and specifically apply forces to targeted mechanoreceptors localized on the surface of the cells in order to activate them.
Such a tool is very valuable for basic research, as it could be used to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in cell mechanosensitivity and discover new cell receptors sensitive to mechanical forces. Thanks to the robot, the scientists will also be able to study more precisely at what moment, when applying force, key signaling pathways for many biological and pathological processes are activated at the cell level.
Photo Credit: INSERM, twitter.
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