NANOSCALE: DNA Robotics

cts - 9986348 a。摘要提出了一种利用计算机控制的扫描探针显微镜（SPM）尖端作为机器人切割和粘贴DNA链的方法。DNA机器人技术是向细胞手术发展迈出的一步，这是这项工作的长期目标。设想可编程纳米级机器人（或具有纳米级末端执行器的更大设备）与细胞组件相互作用以修复它们。对单细胞进行手术本身就具有科学意义，因为它将为细胞功能和行为的实验研究提供前所未有的能力。如果能够利用细胞的自然繁殖机制，从机器人操纵的原型中产生大量功能正常的细胞，这也将具有重大的临床意义。如果纳米机器人被大规模生产，那么成群的纳米机器人就可以用来治疗病人。这项研究的重点是在体外识别DNA链上的位点，并通过切割和粘合来修饰它。这个项目是高度跨学科的，如果没有南加州大学分子机器人实验室提供的人员、技术诀窍和设备的基础设施，就不可能成功进行。多年来，各院系的教师、博士后和学生进行了有效的合作，所有必要的设施都是可用的。

CTS-9986348A. Requicha, University of Southern CaliforniaAbstractCutting and pasting DNA strands using the tip of a computer-controlled Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) as a robot is proposed. DNA robotics is a step towards the development of cell surgery, which is the long term goal of the work. It is envisaged programmable nanometer-scale robots (or larger devices with nanoscopic end effectors) interacting with cell components so as to repair them. Surgery on single cells would be of scientific interest in itself, since it would provide unprecedented capabilities for experimental studies of cell function and behavior. It also would be of great clinical interest if one could use cells' natural reproductive mechanisms to generate large numbers of correctly-functioning cells from a robotically-manipulated prototype. If nanorobots were mass-produced so that swarms of them could be deployed to treat a patient.The research with focus on recognizing sites in a DNA strand in vitro, and it modifying it by cutting and glueing. This project is highly interdisciplinary, and could not be successfully undertaken without the infrastructure of people, know-how and equipment provided by USC's Laboratory for Molecular Robotics. Faculty, postdocs and students from various departments have been collaborating effectively for several years, and all the necessary facilities are available.