| NANO DNA |
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| UPDATED DECEMBER 10, 2005 |
| NANS - Nanoscience Technologies Nanalyze Forum Messages Link Link to NANS web site |
| Purdue researchers use enzyme to clip 'DNA wires' Researchers at Purdue University have attached magnetic "nanoparticles" to DNA and then cut these "DNA wires" into pieces, offering the promise of creating low-cost, self-assembling devices for future computers. Link |
| University of Oregon, Jim Hutchison, Gerd H. Woehrle, Marvin G. Warner The patent covers the assembly of devices using a biopolymer DNA as a template. Within living organisms, DNA comprises the genetic code, but by itself, DNA is just a polymer-a string of molecules hooked together in a chain whose links can encode information. In Hutchison's lab, the DNA polymer serves as an architectural scaffold for tiny particles of gold, the ultimate conductor of electricity. "If you think about a structure of gold dots on a DNA strand, it's like a wire with a whole bunch of minute cuts in it, about 15 angstroms in size," Hutchison says. "In order for electrons to travel down a nanoparticle chain, they have to jump or tunnel from one particle to the next. As a result, these nanochains have different properties than a wire would have. That's why you can make transistors out of them." Link to article Link to US patent 6,872,971 |