Imaging Flexible DNA ‘Building Blocks’ in 3-D

Over the past decade, researchers have been working to create nanoscale materials and devices using DNA as construction materials through a process called DNA origami. A single long “sca old” strand of DNA can be folded into specific shapes by hundreds of shorter strands, for example. The order of bases in each short strand acts as a blueprint that dictates the sca old DNA’s final 3-D shape.