Nanorobots Scale DNA, Opening New Venues in Drug Delivery

Nanobots, tiny devices measured on a scale of billionths of a meter long, now are able to walk along a strand of DNA.  Milan Stojanovic, from Columbia University (New York, USA), and colleagues, have devised a molecular robot that can moving along a strand of DNA strand, farther and faster than previously developed DNA walking nanobots, and is capable of delivering and releasing a drug at a targeted genetic destination.  The team describes its work as: “When using appropriately designed DNA origami, the molecular spiders autonomously carry out sequences of actions such as ‘start’, ‘follow’, ‘turn’ and ‘stop’. We anticipate that this strategy will result in more complex robotic behavior at the molecular level if additional control mechanisms are incorporated.”