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Scientists announce advanced DNA robots

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L

Lost Fragment

Obsessed with 4chan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...380352719428.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

For the first time, microscopic robots made from DNA molecules can walk, follow instructions and work together to assemble simple products on an atomic-scale assembly line, mimicking the machinery of living cells, two independent research teams announced Wednesday.

These experimental devices, described in the journal Nature, are advances in DNA nanotechnology, in which bioengineers are using the molecules of the genetic code as nuts, bolts, girders and other building materials, on a scale measured in billionths of a meter. The effort, which combines synthetic chemistry, enzymology, structural nanotechnology and computer science, takes advantage of the unique physical properties of DNA molecules to assemble shapes according to predictable chemical rules.

Until now, such experiments had yielded molecular novelties, from smiley faces so small that a billion can fit in a teaspoon to molecule-size boxes with lids that can be opened, closed and locked with a DNA key.

These new construction projects bring researchers a step closer to a time when, at least in theory, scientists might be able to build test-tube factories that churn out self-assembling computers, rare chemical compounds or autonomous medical robots able to cruise the human bloodstream.

In one of the projects, a pioneering research group based at New York University built the prototype of a molecular factory in which mobile DNA robots assembled gold particles in eight different ways, in response to chemical commands. The second team, led by a biochemist at Columbia University, programmed a DNA robot that could start, stop, turn and move.

"Here we can see some glimmers of things to come," said Harvard University biophysicist William Shih, who was not involved in the projects. "This is exciting."

The DNA work is a small part of a nearly $9 billion research-and-development effort world-wide, according to the private Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, which tracks environmental and health concerns arising from the new technology. So far, new nano-materials have been incorporated in hundreds of electronic, cosmetic, automotive and medical products made by 485 companies in 24 countries. But none involve these exotic man-made DNA objects.

Both research groups tinkered with creations called DNA walkers—mobile DNA molecules, about 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, that have three or more legs made of a string of genetic enzymes. Each leg moves forward based on its chemical attraction to sequences of biochemicals laid down, like stepping stones, in front of it.

These robots are so small that the researchers program their actions by encoding commands in the world around them. They follow chemical cues programmed into the ground on which they walk.

In the first project, a team of scientists led by biochemist Milan Stojanovic at Columbia built a molecular robot that moved on its own along a track of chemical instructions—the DNA equivalent of the punched paper tape used to control automated machine tools.

Once programmed, the robot required no further human intervention, the researchers reported. It could turn, move in a straight line or follow a complex curve and then stop, all essentially on its own initiative. They documented its progress with an atomic force microscope as it strode along a path 100 nanometers long, about 30 times further than earlier DNA walkers could manage.

"In the future, this could be used as a molecular machine that could bind to a cell surface, maybe carry a cargo and release something," said biochemist Hao Yan at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, one of 12 researchers at four universities involved in the project.

At New York University, scientists led by chemist Nadrian Seeman took that idea a step further. They combined a programmable DNA track and a squad of mobile robotic walkers with a set of independently controlled molecular forklifts that can deliver parts on command. The result was a functioning nano-factory, the researchers reported.

"An industrial assembly line includes a factory, workers and a conveyor system," said Dr. Seeman. "We have emulated each of those features using DNA components."
Journal Community

By triggering different DNA sequences, the researchers could order up to eight different combinations in their experimental product line.

"It is very significant," said California Institute of Technology bioengineer Paul Rothemund, who was not involved in either project. "This is the kind of thing that happens in living cells all the time."

Biochemist Lloyd Smith at the University of Wisconsin in Madison cautioned that it may be a decade or more before DNA nanotechnology leads to any useful applications.

"This is a field to watch," Dr. Smith said. "But this is still fundamental research to find out what ability mankind has to make molecules that can do its bidding."
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J

Jason's Ultimatum

Member
terminators.jpg
 
M

manofmandango

Member
I for one welcome our nanobot overlords.

Not really, the thought scares the shit out of me. Fuck nano technology. They can do a lot of good, until someone manipulates it to deconstruct something vital.
 
F

Foil

Member
So the future of warfare will revolve around launching thousands of containers packed with millions of tiny robot bugs that can track down and kill individual targets. No innocent casualties. No soliders in the line of fire. Should work well, ya know, until they turn on us and destroy the world. SWARM!
 
T

Trent Strong

Banned
I don't expect to see anything come of these "nanomachines" in my lifetime. We were all supposed to have flying cars, robot wives, virtual reality and be disease free by now, but we don't have a damned thing. Technology moves a fuck of a lot more slowly than everybody thinks or hopes it will.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
I want this so bad... I did my senior library thesis on this type of stuff.... Its awesome to see them actually advance on those ideas... :)
 
E

El Sloth

Banned
Trent Strong said:
I don't expect to see anything come of these "nanomachines" in my lifetime. We were all supposed to have flying cars, robot wives, virtual reality and be disease free by now, but we don't have a damned thing. Technology moves a fuck of a lot more slowly than everybody thinks or hopes it will.
Click to expand...

wut

Compare technology from 20, fuck even 10, years ago to today's and explain to me how technology moves so slow.
 
E

ElurI

Banned
i was promised time traveling delorians, robot arms, and immortality 5 years ago. Damn slow technology!
 
T

Trent Strong

Banned
El Sloth said:
wut

Compare technology from 20, fuck even 10, years ago to today's and explain to me how technology moves so slow.
Click to expand...


I doesn't really move slowly, it just seems to move slowly to me because I get my ideas about future technologies from popular culture and from mainstream magazines like Newsweek, who don't really know what they're talking about. I always hear stories that start off: "In 20 years we'll be able to do ___." But 20 years later we still can't do ____. Although the only technology that seems to have advanced a lot over the past 10 years is internet stuff, smartphones, videogames and the like. Diseases still seem to be kicking people's asses as much as ever. But I don't really know what the hell I'm talking about.
 
S

subrock

Member
I immediately thought of insulin producing robots that could eliminate daily shots for those with diabetes, and then I felt sad that we look this crazy advanced technology to solve a problem that is a result of our fucked up food system. talk about brute force problem solving.
 
M

Mindlog

Member
sw33tclyde said:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nq62kMy%2BL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
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l_bloodmusic.jpg


There will be no war against the machines. We'll simply be imprisoned within our cells and erupt into an interstellar bio-snowmass.
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
Inserting the future of the technology into present day culture scares the shit out of me. The possibilities are frightening when thought about in the context of today. This is obviously going to be the future of machines though, I mean when I think far far into the future, how silly would an arm with a hinge and lever be if you have mastered the ability to manipulate DNA and literally create organic/micro-mechanical machines. Like I said, it's a scary thought.
 
W

Weenerz

Banned
I just want to replace most of my body with a metal skeleton, then diseases will be defeated. I will also rename myself Metallo.
 
D

Dirtyshubb

Member
Weenerz said:
I just want to replace most of my body with a metal skeleton, then diseases will be defeated. I will also rename myself Metallo.
Click to expand...
I hope you have a costume to go with the name :D

As for the story, im always excited to hear of amazing breakthroughs in science like this as it brings me one step closer to realising my dream of having a cyber body Ghost in the Shell style :D
 
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