Autodesk Bio/Nano/Programmable Matter Group Team member Aaron Berliner published an Instructable on how he and colleague Joseph Schaeffer created a 2D Autodesk logo from M13 Bacteriophage DNA. Having met Aaron and seeing him programming the DNA in our Pier 9 lab was absolutely fascinating. The team in the lab are doing important research like looking to end cancer Finding and Curing Cancer – Research at Autodesk among other important research.

Aaron is passionate about his research and you know someone is really into their work when this is their qoute in their bio:
“In his spare time, Aaron founded a Biotechnology Startup called Acheron in order to explore and characterize exotic biological phenomena such as radiation resistance, electrogenesis, and endosymbiosis.”

If you want to meet Aaron or more of the team and learn about why their research really matters as well as DNA Origami look for their booth at Autodesk University in the exhibit hall. I am hoping to also have Aaron as a special guest at the Blogger and Social Media Meetup.

DNA Origami, yes that’s a real thing and a great topic at a holiday party conversation.
”DNA origami is a method of using DNA as a construction material to create two- and three-dimensional structures at the nanoscale. This method involves taking a long single strand of DNA as a base material and using many smaller “staple” strands to fold the long strand in specific places. This technique was published in 2006 by Paul W.K. Rothemund at Caltech, and has since grown into a popular and easy to use method for building structures at the nanometer scale.”

Read about the Autodesk Logo Origami from DNA
http://www.instructables.com/id/Design-Assembly-and-Verification-of-a-2D-DNA-Origa/