Artificial muscles and self-propelled goo may be the stuff of Hollywood
fiction, but for UC Santa Barbara scientists Omar Saleh and Deborah
Fygenson, the reality of it is not that far away. By blending their
areas of expertise, the pair have created a dynamic gel made of DNA that
mechanically responds to stimuli in much the same way that cells d
o. The results of their research were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is a whole new kind of responsive gel, or what some might call a
'smart' material," said Saleh, associate professor of materials,
affiliated with UCSB's Biomolecular Science and Engineering program.
"The gel has active mechanical capabilities in that it generates forces
independently, leading to changes in elasticity or shape, when fed ATP
molecules for energy—much like a living cell."
Their DNA gel,
at only 10 microns in width, is roughly the size of a eukaryotic cell,
the type of cell of which humans are made.
Read at http://medicalxpress.com/news/
Artificial muscles and self-propelled goo may be the stuff of Hollywood fiction, but for UC Santa Barbara scientists Omar Saleh and Deborah Fygenson, the reality of it is not that far away. By blending their areas of expertise, the pair have created a dynamic gel made of DNA that mechanically responds to stimuli in much the same way that cells d
o. The results of their research were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is a whole new kind of responsive gel, or what some might call a 'smart' material," said Saleh, associate professor of materials, affiliated with UCSB's Biomolecular Science and Engineering program. "The gel has active mechanical capabilities in that it generates forces independently, leading to changes in elasticity or shape, when fed ATP molecules for energy—much like a living cell."
Their DNA gel, at only 10 microns in width, is roughly the size of a eukaryotic cell, the type of cell of which humans are made.
Read at http://medicalxpress.com/news/
"This is a whole new kind of responsive gel, or what some might call a 'smart' material," said Saleh, associate professor of materials, affiliated with UCSB's Biomolecular Science and Engineering program. "The gel has active mechanical capabilities in that it generates forces independently, leading to changes in elasticity or shape, when fed ATP molecules for energy—much like a living cell."
Their DNA gel, at only 10 microns in width, is roughly the size of a eukaryotic cell, the type of cell of which humans are made.
Read at http://medicalxpress.com/news/
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