Self-assembling system uses magnets to mimic specific binding in DNA

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

Scientists at Cornell University have used magnets to design self-assembling systems that could be created in nanoscale form. The researchers made centimeter-sized acrylic panels, each containing four tiny magnets in a square pattern. To activate the self-assembly, the magnets were scattered on a shaker table, with the table’s vibrations preventing the magnets from forming bonds. As the shaking amplitude was decreased, the magnets attached in their designated order and formed the target structures. While nanoscale machines and self-assembling systems are not new, this project marks the first time the two concepts have been combined with magnetic encoding.