April 4, 2014 – The Boise State “B” DNA origami project was conceived to help students learn how to produce DNA origami nanostructures. The project was led by Dr. Elton Graugnard, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at Boise State.
“The students need something to get started with, so we thought this would be a fun way for them to learn,” said Graugnard. “The logo synthesis was really a training exercise in this technique of DNA origami. You use DNA as a programmable sort of breadboard for organizing nanoparticles at a scale that is difficult to achieve with other techniques. If you can make something that looks like a “B” it demonstrates that you can make arbitrary shapes.” After synthesizing the nanosized Boise State logos, the students imaged them in fluid using a Bruker MultiMode 8 AFM in the Surface Science Laboratory as shown below.