An AI tool folds DNA into shapes from a user's own sketches

Researchers at Seoul National University and Hanyang University have developed Generative SNUPI, an AI tool that designs DNA origami structures directly from a user's own sketch, according to IEEE Spectrum, with the work accepted for publication in Nature Communications. DNA origami is a technique that bends genetic material into a target shape by synthesizing short DNA strands called staples that pull a larger scaffold strand into the desired configuration, work that has traditionally required tedious, largely manual design effort for each new shape. Generative SNUPI applies a diffusion model, the same broad family of technique used in image generating AI, which adds and then removes noise from an input shape to arrive at a DNA strand layout that will fold into that shape in practice. The researchers demonstrated the tool by generating nanoscale DNA structures resembling a dog, a star, and even a rendering of the Mona Lisa, each only nanometers wide, and confirmed that designs generated by the model actually assembled correctly in the lab rather than only working on paper. The current designs are rigid, but the researchers say they plan to extend the approach to flexible structures, which would be useful for applications such as targeted drug delivery and immunotherapy, where a DNA structure's shape needs to change or respond to its environment.