Infographic: Sequence-Directed Gel Degradation

A novel system for customizable DNA-hydrogel manipulations

Written byRuth Williams

| 1 min read

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One potential application for DNA-containing hydrogels is to encapsulate cells or particles to be released in response to a particular DNA stimulus. The hydrogel, which contains single-stranded DNA molecules cross-linked at bridges, is degraded via the collateral cleavage action of Cas12a when the enzyme is triggered by a guide RNA (gRNA) that corresponds to the double-stranded DNA stimulus. The payload is then released.

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Ruth Williams is a freelance journalist based in Connecticut. Email her at ruth@wordsbyruth.com or find her on Twitter @rooph.

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Meet the Author

Ruth Williams
Ruth is a freelance journalist. Before freelancing, Ruth was a news editor for the Journal of Cell Biology in New York and an assistant editor for Nature Reviews Neuroscience in London. Prior to that, she was a bona fide pipette-wielding, test tube–shaking, lab coat–shirking research scientist. She has a PhD in genetics from King’s College London, and was a postdoc in stem cell biology at Imperial College London. Today she lives and writes in Connecticut.
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