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Hydrogels

DNA bulks up

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 767–768 (2006)Cite this article

Since the 1940s DNA has been known as the genetic material connected to heredity, and from the early 1980s it has also been considered as a potential structural material for nanoscale construction. Now, a hydrogel made entirely of DNA brings this molecule into the realm of bulk materials.

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Figure 1: Short strands of complementary DNA pair up (step 1) according to their sequences of nucleotide bases, and form flexible, branched junctions — the building blocks of the DNA hydrogel.

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  1. the Departments of Computer Science and Chemistry, Duke University, 329 Gross Chemistry Building, Box 90345, Durham, 27708, North Carolina, USA

    Thom LaBean

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  1. Thom LaBean
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LaBean, T. DNA bulks up. Nature Mater 5, 767–768 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1745

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