14 DAY TRIAL // Experts from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have recently developed a new series of structures, constructed entirely out of the relatively new carbon compound graphene and strands of DNA, which is the building block of all living things. The team, which worked closely with scientists from the Princeton University, realized that there had been virtually no studies done on this type of combination, and decided to fill in the gaps.
PNNL experts Zhiwen Tang and Yuehe Lin were the leaders of the new investigation, which resulted in nanostructures made entirely out of graphene and DNA. The interactions that appeared between the two components were tracked using a fluorescent protein. Preliminary studies seem to indicate that single-stranded DNA interacts with the carbon compound much stronger than its double-stranded sibling. The team inferred this by analyzing how much the fluorescence of the marker protein changed.
In their experiments, the investigators also discovered an amazing feat of graphene. While they were trying to figure out how they could use the difference in protein fluorescence to their advantage, they added complementary DNA to strands already on graphene. When they did this, the marker protein started glowing with renewed strength, which could only mean that new DNA molecules formed, as the first strands separated from their graphene substrate. According to the team, this property could pave the way to creating new classes of biosensors.
It may be possible, thanks to the newly found interactions, that graphene-DNA nanostructures will be used in hospitals in the future, for detecting conditions such as cancer. Toxins in decaying and altered food could also become a target of such sensors that could also scan packages suspected of carrying biological weapons for any traces of pathogens. An additional good piece of news is that the single-stranded-DNA variety of the structure is extremely stable, which means that it can be used in a variety of environments, without enzymes breaking it apart.
Scientists from the PNNL will be presenting their research at the 2009 Micro Nano Breakthrough Conference, which runs from September 21-23, in Portland, Oregon. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory, where interdisciplinary teams advance science and technology and deliver solutions to America's most intractable problems in energy, national security and the environment. The PNNL employs 4,200 staff and has an $850 million annual budget. Ohio-based Battelle has managed the PNNL since the lab's inception in 1965.