Power Up

DNA might sound like a surprising choice for a building material. Yet by folding it up in different ways, DNA origami has produced tiny nanostructures designed to deliver drugs inside our bodies or to act as scaffolding beside a repairing tissue. Pictured here, a new DNA device is being developed to bore tiny tunnels into living cells. The diagram on the left shows lengths of DNA (in red) forming a hollow tube that can pierce through a cell’s membrane, producing a man-made gateway or pore. Other fragments of DNA are assembled into a honeycomb-shaped cap, forming a ‘seal’ which locks the pore to the surface of the cell. This man-made channel (shown from three different perspectives in the microscope pictures on the right) might one day be used to conduct electrical impulses into our cells, possibly supplying power to other man-made devices working hard on the inside.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Friedrich Simmel
• Technische Universität München, Germany
• Reprinted with permission from AAAS.
• Published in Science 338(6109): 932-936