About six years ago, Hendrik Dietz and his team of researchers at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) finally proved that DNA can assemble an object so that all the parts fits together with atomic precision. Not only that, but Dietz’s research shortened the process from weeks to just minutes.

Earlier this year, Dietz’s colleagues at TUM showed that the bottom-up self-assembly of DNA origami could self-assemble 100,000 times faster than traditional DNA ‘walkers.’ The DNA objects produced through self-assembly have been used in basic research for creating periodic quantum dots arrays like those used in displays or plasmonic structures for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Now Dietz’s team has overcome one of the last remaining obstacles for DNA self-assembly: building structures that can withstand harsh environments.

In research described in Science Advances, Dietz and his team developed a method for creating more covalent bonds per unit volume, leading to more durable structures.