Automating DNA origami opens door to many new uses

Researchers can build complex, nanometer-scale structures of almost any shape and form, using strands of DNA. But these particles must be designed by hand, in a complex and laborious process.

The protein that assesses distances

A protein of the ISWI family (Imitation Switch, or nucleosome remodelling motors) is endowed with a special property: despite having no organ of sense it is nonetheless able to assess the length of DNA strands. A study just ...

The next pandemic could be downloaded from the internet

Last October, scientists in California sequenced the DNA for the "type H" botulinum toxin. One gram of this toxin would be sufficient to kill half a billion people, making it the deadliest substance yet discovered – with ...

A hidden genetic code for better designer genes

Scientists routinely seek to reprogram bacteria to produce proteins for drugs, biofuels and more, but they have struggled to get those bugs to follow orders. But a hidden feature of the genetic code, it turns out, could get ...

Microelectronics: Automating cancer detection

Microelectronic engineers in Singapore have developed and tested sensor technology that can detect and measure a chemical signature of bladder cancer. The light-based sensor could eventually be used for the early diagnosis ...

Tiny tweezers allow precision control of enzymes

Tweezers are a handy instrument when it comes to removing a splinter or plucking an eyebrow. In new research, Hao Yan and his colleagues at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute describe a pair of tweezers shrunk ...

Researchers shed light on ancient origin of life

(Phys.org) —University of Georgia researchers discovered important genetic clues about the history of microorganisms called archaea and the origins of life itself in the first ever study of its kind. Results of their study ...

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