Engineers find new way to create single-chain protein nanostructures

The ancient art of paper folding known as origami is used to make intricate birds or other shapes. Inspired by the work of DNA origami, in which nanostructures are made from folding DNA, a team of engineers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has found a new way to create single-chain protein nanostructures by using synthetic biology and protein-assembly techniques.