IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v4y2013i1d10.1038_ncomms3275.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

DNA-directed self-assembly of shape-controlled hydrogels

Author

Listed:
  • Hao Qi

    (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
    Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Majid Ghodousi

    (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
    Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Yanan Du

    (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
    Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Casey Grun

    (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University)

  • Hojae Bae

    (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
    Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School)

  • Peng Yin

    (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Ali Khademhosseini

    (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
    Center for Biomedical Engineering, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Using DNA as programmable, sequence-specific ‘glues’, shape-controlled hydrogel units are self-assembled into prescribed structures. Here we report that aggregates are produced using hydrogel cubes with edge lengths ranging from 30 μm to 1 mm, demonstrating assembly across scales. In a simple one-pot agitation reaction, 25 dimers are constructed in parallel from 50 distinct hydrogel cube species, demonstrating highly multiplexed assembly. Using hydrogel cuboids displaying face-specific DNA glues, diverse structures are achieved in aqueous and in interfacial agitation systems. These include dimers, extended chains and open network structures in an aqueous system, and dimers, chains of fixed length, T-junctions and square shapes in the interfacial system, demonstrating the versatility of the assembly system.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao Qi & Majid Ghodousi & Yanan Du & Casey Grun & Hojae Bae & Peng Yin & Ali Khademhosseini, 2013. "DNA-directed self-assembly of shape-controlled hydrogels," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-10, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3275
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3275
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms3275?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Minghui Tan & Pan Tian & Qian Zhang & Guiqiang Zhu & Yuchen Liu & Mengjiao Cheng & Feng Shi, 2022. "Self-sorting in macroscopic supramolecular self-assembly via additive effects of capillary and magnetic forces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3275. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.