A team of researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a nanorobotic “hand” made from DNA. The device, dubbed the “NanoGripper,” can grab the virus that causes COVID-19, allowing for rapid detection; it can also block viral particles from entering cells to infect them. The study was published in Science Robotics on Nov. 27, and the team was led by Xing Wang, of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and who serves in the fields of cancer research, nanotechnology, bioengineering and chemistry.
The NanoGripper was inspired by the gripping capability of human hands and bird claws. It consists of four bendable “fingers” and a central “palm.” Like a human finger, each “finger” has three joints, and the angle and degree of bending can be determined by design on the DNA scaffold.
“We wanted to make a soft material, nanoscale robot with grabbing functions that have never been seen before, to interact with cells, viruses and other molecules for biomedical applications,” Wang said, reported PhysOrg, which includes an artist’s conception of the device.
“We are using DNA for its structural properties. It is strong, flexible and programmable. Yet even in the DNA origami field, this is novel in terms of the design principle. We fold one long strand of DNA back and forth to make all of the elements, both the static and moving pieces, in one step.
