Aug 28, 2018
(Nanowerk News) Over the past decades, nanoactuators for detection or probing of different biomolecules have attracted vast interest for example in the fields of biomedical, food and environmental industry.
To provide more versatile tools for active molecular control in nanometer scale, researchers at University of Jyväskylä and University of Tampere have devised a nanoactuator scheme, where gold nanoparticle (AuNP) tethered on a conducting surface is moved reversibly using electric fields, while monitoring its position optically via changes of its plasmon resonance (Nanoscale, "DNA-nanoparticle actuator enabling optical monitoring of nanoscale movements induced by electric field").
Forces induced by the AuNP motion on the molecule anchoring the nanoparticle, can be used to change and study its conformation.
Gold nanoparticles tethered on a BSA-protein-protected gold surface via hairpin-DNA are moved reversibly using electric fields, while monitoring their position and DNA conformation optically via changes of its plasmon resonance (by color).
"Related studies use either organic or inorganic interfaces or materials as probes. Our idea was to fuse these two domains together to achieve the best from the both worlds," says postdoctoral researcher Kosti Tapio.
![Gold nanoparticles tethered on a BSA-protein-protected gold surface via hairpin-DNA are moved reversibly using electric fields, while monitoring their position and DNA conformation optically via changes of its plasmon resonance (by color)](https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news2/id50959.jpg)