We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Review Stresses Biomedical Applications for Designed DNA Nanostructures

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 05 Oct 2015

Image: Virus-protein-coated DNA origami nanostructures. With the help of protein encapsulation, such nanostructures can be transported into human cells much more efficiently (Photo courtesy of Dr. Veikko Linko and Dr. Mauri Kostiainen, Aalto University).

Image: Virus-protein-coated DNA origami nanostructures. With the help of protein encapsulation, such nanostructures can be transported into human cells much more efficiently (Photo courtesy of Dr. Veikko Linko and Dr. Mauri Kostiainen, Aalto University).

A recent review article described how self-assembled DNA nanostructures could be used in molecular-scale diagnostics and as smart drug-delivery vehicles.

Investigators at Aalto University (Finland) described in the October 2015 issue of the journal Trends in Biotechnology how DNA molecules could be assembled into tailored and complex nanostructures, and how such structures could be used for bio-nanotechnological applications such as molecular diagnostics and targeted therapeutics.

The authors said that DNA molecules can be assembled into custom predesigned shapes via hybridization of sequence-complementary domains. The folded structures have high spatial addressability and tremendous potential to serve as platforms and active components in a plethora of bio-nanotechnological applications. They stressed that DNA is a truly programmable material, and its nanoscale engineering opens up numerous attractive possibilities to develop novel methods for therapeutics. Furthermore, tailored molecular devices could be used to target cells and trigger cellular actions in the biological environment.

"Nowadays, software and techniques to design and simulate DNA nanostructures are extremely powerful and user-friendly, and thus, researchers can easily construct their own DNA-objects for various uses. The big boom in the field of structural DNA nanotechnology happened in 2006, when Paul Rothemund introduced a technique dubbed "DNA origami". This method is the starting point for practically all other straightforward design approaches available today", said first author Dr. Veikko Linko, a postdoctoral researcher in biohybrid materials at Aalto University.

Related Links:
Aalto University

Visit expo >

Gold Member

Quality Control Material

iPLEX Pro Exome QC Panel

POC Helicobacter Pylori Test Kit
Hepy Urease Test

Gold Member

Hematology Analyzer

Medonic M32B

New

Gold Member

Clinical Drug Testing Panel

DOA Urine MultiPlex

Latest BioResearch News

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel

Blood Test Tracks Transplant Health Using Donor DNA

Organ transplantation offers life-saving treatment for patients with end-stage disease, but complications such as rejection remain a constant risk. Monitoring transplanted organs typically relies on invasive... Read more

AI Sensor Detects Neurological Disorders Using Single Saliva Drop

Neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease often develop gradually and present subtle symptoms in their early stages. Because early signs are frequently vague or atypical,... Read more

New Blood Test Index Offers Earlier Detection of Liver Scarring

Metabolic fatty liver disease is highly prevalent and often silent, yet it can progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver failure. Current first-line blood test scores frequently return indeterminate results,... Read more

Image: One of 32 sensors in the electronic nose (Photo courtesy of Linköping University)

Electronic Nose Smells Early Signs of Ovarian Cancer in Blood

Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage because its symptoms are vague and resemble those of more common conditions. Unlike breast cancer, there is currently no reliable screening method, and... Read more

Molecular Diagnostics

view channel

Blood Test Predicts Dementia in Women 25 Years Before Symptoms Begin

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease often develop silently over many years before symptoms appear. Detecting risk earlier could allow preventive strategies to begin long before memory problems interfere with... Read more

Serial Liquid Biopsies Reveal Therapy Resistance in Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Metastatic Prostate cancer can rapidly adapt under treatment, making it difficult to detect resistance before clinical progression. Genomic results from archival tumor tissue may no longer reflect the... Read more

Rapid RSV Tests Reduces Antibiotic Prescribing in Kids

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of viral lower respiratory tract infections in young children. Although antibiotics do not treat viral infections, they are frequently prescribed in outpatient... Read more

DNA Aptamers Offer New Tool for Easy Alzheimer's Blood Test

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia and is marked by progressive loss of nerve cells that begins many years before symptoms become noticeable. Detecting early signs of neurodegeneration... Read more

Hematology

view channel

$Image: Hemex Health’s Gazelle platform is designed to rapidly separate and detect hemoglobin fractions and variants using miniaturized electrophoresis technology (photo courtesy of Hemex Health)$

Rapid Cartridge-Based Test Aims to Expand Access to Hemoglobin Disorder Diagnosis

Sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia are hemoglobin disorders that often require referral to specialized laboratories for definitive diagnosis, delaying results for patients and clinicians.... Read more

New Guidelines Aim to Improve AL Amyloidosis Diagnosis

Light chain (AL) amyloidosis is a rare, life-threatening bone marrow disorder in which abnormal amyloid proteins accumulate in organs. Approximately 3,260 people in the United States are diagnosed... Read more

Image: The new device can fit in the palm and is capable of measuring the quality of red blood cells (Photo courtesy of Xiaoyun Ding)

Fast and Easy Test Could Revolutionize Blood Transfusions

Blood transfusions are a cornerstone of modern medicine, yet red blood cells can deteriorate quietly while sitting in cold storage for weeks. Although blood units have a fixed expiration date, cells from... Read more

Automated Hemostasis System Helps Labs of All Sizes Optimize Workflow

High-volume hemostasis sections must sustain rapid turnaround while managing reruns and reflex testing. Manual tube handling and preanalytical checks can strain staff time and increase opportunities for error.... Read more

Immunology

view channel

Cancer Mutation ‘Fingerprints’ to Improve Prediction of Immunotherapy Response

Cancer cells accumulate thousands of genetic mutations, but not all mutations affect tumors in the same way. Some make cancer cells more visible to the immune system, while others allow tumors to evade... Read more

Image: The study identified a distinct immune signature associated with treatment-resistant myasthenia gravis (Dodd, Katherine C. et al., Med (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.medj.2025.100987)

Immune Signature Identified in Treatment-Resistant Myasthenia Gravis

Myasthenia gravis is a rare autoimmune disorder in which immune attack at the neuromuscular junction causes fluctuating weakness that can impair vision, movement, speech, swallowing, and breathing.... Read more

New Biomarker Predicts Chemotherapy Response in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer in which patients often show widely varying responses to chemotherapy. Predicting who will benefit from treatment remains challenging,... Read more

Blood Test Identifies Lung Cancer Patients Who Can Benefit from Immunotherapy Drug

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease with limited treatment options, and even newly approved immunotherapies do not benefit all patients. While immunotherapy can extend survival for some,... Read more

Microbiology

view channel

$Image: The study\'s findings show persistent standardization gaps among at-home gut microbiome testing kits (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)$

Study Highlights Accuracy Gaps in Consumer Gut Microbiome Kits

Direct-to-consumer gut microbiome kits promise personalized insights by profiling fecal bacteria and generating health readouts, but their analytical accuracy remains uncertain. A new study shows that... Read more

Image: New WHO guidelines recommend rapid molecular TB tests, tongue swab sampling and sputum pooling to improve diagnosis (Photo courtesy of WHO)

WHO Recommends Near POC Tests, Tongue Swabs and Sputum Pooling for TB Diagnosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s leading infectious disease killers, yet millions of cases go undiagnosed or are detected too late. Barriers such as reliance on sputum samples, limited laboratory... Read more

Image: The new imaging approach uses microscopic glowing tags to reveal gene activity in individual C. diff cells (Photo courtesy of Nicholas DiBenedetto)

New Imaging Approach Could Help Predict Dangerous Gut Infection

Clostridioides difficile infections affect roughly half a million people in the United States each year and are a leading cause of infectious diarrhea in healthcare settings. The bacterium can trigger... Read more

Image:The technique enables sequencing of the M. tuberculosis genome directly from patient samples without culturing the bacteria first (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Rapid Sequencing Could Transform Tuberculosis Care

Tuberculosis remains the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, responsible for more than one million deaths each year. Diagnosing and monitoring the disease can be slow because... Read more

Pathology

view channel

Image: The new methyl-copying PCR method preserves DNA methylation patterns during amplification (Photo courtesy of Syndex Bio)

Novel mcPCR Technology to Transform Testing of Clinical Samples

DNA methylation is an important biological marker used in the diagnosis and monitoring of many diseases, including cancer. These chemical modifications to DNA influence gene activity and can reveal early... Read more

$Image: The study\'s results indicated that when Aβ levels were high, women had significantly higher plasma p‑tau217 levels than men (photo courtesy of Shutterstock$

Sex Differences in Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Linked to Faster Cognitive Decline

Sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease present ongoing diagnostic challenges, with women often experiencing a disproportionate disease burden even when preclinical amyloid-beta levels are similar to men.... Read more

AI Tool Predicts Chemotherapy Response from Biopsy Slides

Selecting first-line chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer typically involves trying one of two approved regimens and switching if response is inadequate. An initial mismatch can delay disease control... Read more

World’s First Optical Microneedle Device to Enable Blood-Sampling-Free Clinical Testing

Blood sampling is one of the most common clinical procedures, but it can be difficult or uncomfortable for many patients, especially older adults or individuals with certain medical conditions.... Read more

Technology

view channel

Image: The AI system analyzes diverse inputs in order to make a diagnosis based on traceable reasoning (Zhao, W., Wu, C., Fan, Y. et al. Nature (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-10097-9)

AI Model Outperforms Clinicians in Rare Disease Detection

Rare diseases affect an estimated 300 million people worldwide, yet diagnosis is often protracted and error-prone. Many conditions present with heterogeneous signs that overlap with common disorders, leading... Read more

AI-Driven Diagnostic Demonstrates High Accuracy in Detecting Periprosthetic Joint Infection

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a rare but serious complication affecting 1% to 2% of primary joint replacement surgeries. The condition occurs when bacteria or fungi infect tissues around an implanted... Read more

Image: The model estimates when Alzheimer’s symptoms will begin based on the accumulation of amyloid and tau proteins in the brain (Photo courtesy of Sara Moser/WashU Medicine)

Blood Test “Clocks” Predict Start of Alzheimer’s Symptoms

More than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, and related health and long-term care costs are projected to reach nearly USD 400 billion in 2025. The disease has no cure, and symptoms often... Read more

mage: The AI-derived MYCN niche score predicts liver cancer risk before tumors form (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

AI-Powered Biomarker Predicts Liver Cancer Risk

Liver cancer, or hepatocellular carcinoma, causes more than 800,000 deaths worldwide each year and often goes undetected until late stages. Even after treatment, recurrence rates reach 70% to 80%, contributing... Read more

Industry

view channel

MGI Tech Strengthens Sequencing Portfolio with Dual Acquisition

MGI Tech Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen, China) announced the acquisition of STOmics and CycloneSEQ on March 3, 2026, as part of its “SEQALL+GLI+Omics” strategy. According to the company, the combined portfolio spans... Read more

Agilent Technologies Acquires Pathology Diagnostics Company Biocare Medical

Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, CA, USA) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Biocare Medical (Pacheco, CA, USA), expanding its pathology portfolio through the addition of highly complementary... Read more

Cepheid Joins CDC Initiative to Strengthen U.S. Pandemic Testing Preparednesss

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA) has been selected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one of four national collaborators in a federal initiative to speed rapid diagnostic technologies... Read more

QuidelOrtho Collaborates with Lifotronic to Expand Global Immunoassay Portfolio

QuidelOrtho (San Diego, CA, USA) has entered a long-term strategic supply agreement with Lifotronic Technology (Shenzhen, China) to expand its global immunoassay portfolio and accelerate customer access... Read more