Productive Nanosystems Archives

Gaming the Future: The Book!

Watching individual chemical bonds during a reaction

Combining computational nanotechnology with a noncontact-atomic force microscope probe tipped by a single CO molecule allowed researchers to visualize the dance of individual chemical bonds during a complex organic reaction on a silver surface.

Protein design provides a novel metabolic path for carbon fixation

Computational design of an enzyme that carboligates three one-carbon molecules to form one three-carbon molecule, an activity that does not exist in nature, provides proof-of-principle for a novel metabolic pathway for carbon fixation.

Triple helices stabilize macroscopic crystals for DNA nanotechnology

A DNA strand capable of forming a triple helix with a portion of the DNA double helices in a macroscopic DNA crystal enhances the weak interactions holding the crystal together so that the crystal remains stable in the absence of a high ionic strength environment.

Five ionized atoms provide scalable implementation of quantum computation algorithm

Five calcium ions held several micrometers apart in an ion trap and manipulated by laser pulses implement Shor’s factorization algorithm more efficiently than previous implementations.

Tightly-fitted DNA parts form dynamic nanomachine

A rotor with DNA origami parts held together by an engineered tight fit instead of by covalent bonds can revolve freely, driven by Brownian motion and dwelling at engineered docking sites.

Multiple advances in de novo protein design and prediction

New families of protein structures, barrel proteins for positioning small molecules, self-assembling protein arrays, and precision sculpting of protein architectures highlight de novo protein design advances.

Rational design of protein architectures not found in nature

Computational design of proteins satisfying predetermined geometric constraints produced stable proteins with the designed structure that are not found in nature.

De novo protein design space extends far beyond biology

A fully automated design protocol generates dozens of designs for proteins based on helix-loop-helix-loop repeat units that are very stable, have crystal structures that match the design, have very different overall shapes, and are unrelated to any natural protein.

Atomically precise boron doping of graphene nanoribbons

The ability to dope graphene nanoribbons with boron atoms to atomic precision opens a range of possible new applications, from chemical sensing to nanoelectronics to photocatalysis to battery electrodes.

Automated design of polyhedral meshes for DNA origami

An automated design process folds arbitrary meshes to produce DNA origami structures difficult to design by previous methods, including more open structures that are stable in ionic conditions used in biological assays.

Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Productive Nanosystems

Watching individual chemical bonds during a reaction

Protein design provides a novel metabolic path for carbon fixation

Triple helices stabilize macroscopic crystals for DNA nanotechnology

Five ionized atoms provide scalable implementation of quantum computation algorithm

Tightly-fitted DNA parts form dynamic nanomachine

Multiple advances in de novo protein design and prediction

Rational design of protein architectures not found in nature

De novo protein design space extends far beyond biology

Atomically precise boron doping of graphene nanoribbons

Automated design of polyhedral meshes for DNA origami

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