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November 10, 2015

Hydrodynamic and DNA-linked crystals

Hydrodynamic and DNA-linked crystals.

By attaching short sequences of single-stranded DNA to nanoscale building blocks, researchers can design structures that can effectively build themselves. A Pennsylvania State University research team has shown that fluid dynamics plays a critical role for crystals that self-assemble without the pattern defects seen here.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation through its Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems Division (grants CBET 08-29045 and CBET 11-33386).

To learn more about this research, see the Penn news story The motion of the medium matters for self-assembling particles, Penn research shows. (Date image taken: unknown; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Nov. 10, 2015) [Image 2 of 2 related images. Back to Image 1.]

Credit: Ian Jenkins, University of Pennsylvania

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