World’s tiniest thermometer built
12 May 2016 by Evoluted New Media
Canadian scientists have created the smallest thermometer in the world using DNA.
Canadian scientists have created the smallest thermometer in the world using DNA.
Made from programmable DNA, it is 20,000 times smaller than a human hair. More than 60 years ago, it was realised DNA molecules unfold when heated. Researchers have used this property to produce DNA structures than fold and unfold at specific temperatures.
Professor Alexis Vallée-Bélisle from Montreal University and senior author, said: “In recent years, biochemists also discovered biomolecules such as proteins or RNA are employed as nanothermometers in living organisms and report temperature variation by folding or unfolding. Inspired by those natural nanothermometers, we have created various DNA structures that can fold and unfold at specifically defined temperatures.”
An advantage of using DNA is that its chemistry is programmable and simple, due to the fact it’s made of four different monomers. Arnaud Desrosiers, also from the university and co-author, said: “By adding optical reporters to these DNA structures, we can therefore create 5nm-wide thermometers that produce an easily detectable signal as a function of temperature.”
These thermometers will help scientists better understand aspects of molecular biology. “For example, we know that the temperature inside the human body is maintained at 37° C, but we have no idea whether there is a large temperature variation at the nanoscale inside each individual cell,” Professor Vallée-Bélisle said.
He said: “In the near future, we also envision that these DNA-based nanothermometers may be implemented in electronic-based devices in order to monitor local temperature variation at the nanoscale.”
The research can be viewed on Nano Letters.
