Latest Yan Liu Stories

In a new discovery that represents a major step in solving a critical design challenge, Arizona State University Professor Hao Yan has led a research team to produce a wide variety of 2-D and 3-D structures that push the boundaries of the burgeoning field of DNA nanotechnology. The field of DNA nanotechnology utilizes nature's design rules and the chemical properties of DNA to self-assemble into an increasingly complex menagerie of molecules for biomedical and electronic applications. Some...

The enigmatic Möbius strip has long been an object of fascination, appearing in numerous works of art, most famously a woodcut by the Dutchman M.C. Escher, in which a tribe of ants traverses the form's single, never-ending surface.Scientists at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University's and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, led by Hao Yan and Yan Liu, have now reproduced the shape on a remarkably tiny scale, joining up braid-like segments of DNA to create Möbius...

The self-assembling properties of the DNA molecule have allowed for the construction of an intriguing range of nanoscale forms. Such nanoarchitectures may eventually find their way into a new generation of microelectronics, semiconductors, biological and chemical sensing devices and a host of biomedical applications. Now Hao Yan and Yan Liu, professors at the Biodesign Institute's Center for Single Molecule Biophysics and their collaborators have introduced a new method to deterministically...

TEMPE, Ariz. "“ In the fifty-year history since the structure of DNA was first revealed, what was once a Nobel prize- winning research discovery has become an omnipresent cultural icon co-opted for promoting everything from fragrances to musical acts. Now, the familiar DNA double helix is serving as a microscopic trellis in order to further advances in nanotechnology aimed at improving human health.Hao Yan, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and an assistant...