DNA Nanoswitch Technology Integrated with Centrifuge Force Microscopy (image)

Caption
The picture on the top shows a DNA nanoswitch that forms a looped structure when a bond is formed between the attached reactive components (e.g. receptor-ligand pair shown in red and green); at one end it is attached to the sample stage and at the other to a bead (top). By applying centrifugal forces to the bead in the CFM device, the bond between the reactive components can be repeatedly ruptured, opening up the loop and increasing the length of the DNA tether (bottom), enabling highly reliable measurements of molecular interactions. In the CFM, many beads can be interrogated in parallel, enabling high-throughput single-molecule measurements (bottom left). In the video in the bottom right, the camera captures these rupture events in real time by registering the bead at a different spot.
Credit
Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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