DNA enables nanoconstruction

By using DNA as a construction tool, Israeli researchers believe they have taken a step in overcoming one of the hurdles blocking creation of functional nanometer-scale electronic devices—the difficulty of wiring the elements together and attaching them to electrodes. The researchers take advantage of the molecular recognition characteristics of DNA to get around this problem. As the first step in device construction, they use DNA molecules to create a bridge between two electrodes. They then use the DNA bridge as a template to grow a conductive silver wire [ Nature , 391 , 775 (1998)]. The device was constructed by assistant chemistry professor Yoav Eichen, working with associate physics professor Uri Sivan and assistant physics professor Erez Braun at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. The work is a "beautiful extension" of the prior art, says Chad A. Mirkin, chemistry professor at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., who was one of the first researchers to use DNA ...