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RUNNING HEAD: DNA APPLICATION OF NANOCARS IN TWENTY YEARS

Exploravision: Nanocars in 20 years

Felix Alexie, Kevin Goodman, Milen Guergov
Period 3
January 11, 2015
West Career and Technical Academy

Author Note
Felix Alexie, Biomedical Sciences, West Career and Technical Academy; Kevin A.
Goodman, Biomedical Sciences, West Career and Technical Academy; Milen Guergov,
Biomedical Sciences, West Career and Technical Academy.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Felix Alexie or Kevin A.
Goodman, Biomedical Sciences Program, West Career and Technical Academy, Las Vegas, NV
89135. E-mail: felixa111@westcta.ccsd.net

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Abstract
Nanotechnology has been around for hundreds of years dating back to early artifacts
containing colloids to change color. Nanotechnology in the past has mostly been classified as
passive, it only changes the characteristics of the material that it is incorporated in. Today, active
nanotechnology exists in which nano cars can travel across sheets of gold, and nano machines
can function like the bodys enzymes to read codons of DNA. Tomorrow, nano cars and these
enzyme-like nano machines will work in tandem, and the addition new nano machine along with
the ones that exist today will allow for the repair of genetic disorders. Nano technologies risks
must also be calculated, as more research is needed in order to advance the field safely into its
genetically-modifying-nanocar future.
Present Technology
As defined in the history of nanotechnology, there are basic classifications under which
any nanotechnology can fall. The nano cars that exist today are a form of active nanotechnology
-- this means that the technology reacts to a stimulus, it can change its behavior or move to
perform its function (Davies, 2009).
Today, Nano cars are in their earliest stages of development. They are limited to traveling
on sheets of perfectly flat pure gold, and they have been used to transport only the tiniest of
molecules from point A to point B. Stretchable gold that can be printed onto rubber circuit boards
(Newitz, 2012) allowing for technology to bend and be manipulated in any such direction
without breaking. 3d printers can now print molecules that are functional one at a time which
will eventually lead to unique medicine for individuals according to their specific needs.
Scientists are able to work in the nanoscale because of advances in technology. Special
microscopes allow scientists to work at this scale, the scanning tunneling microscope can

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measure objects and allow for the manipulation of carbon nano tubules. Using this powerful
microscope can also allow for the manipulation of nano materials other than carbon nano
tubules.
Current research points to the use of dielectrophoresis and electrorotation, known as AC
electrokinetics, as contenders in the nanotechnology field of manipulating nanoparticles
(Hughes, 2000). These methods of manipulation are the product of the interaction between
electric fields and induced dipoles, the motions produced could be attraction, repulsion, and
rotation depending on the nature of the changing electric field. These methods of maneuvering
molecules are also in their refining stages.
Nanotechnology that physically interacts with DNA has many forms, present technology
exists for nano machines to perform several functions that can be expanded upon in the future.
Nano machines today function like enzymes, some are capable of biosensing for specific codons
of DNA, others are capable of replicating DNA, and some are even able to simply travel across
the DNA as a surface (Fan, 2013, pp. 307-316).
History
Dating as far back as the third century, the first use of nanotechnology was with the
stained glass of the Lycurgus cup. (United States National Nanotechnology Initiative, 2014) This
is an example of dichroic glass; colloidal gold and silver particles in the glass allow it to seem
green when lit from the outside but red from the inside. The same sort of glistening, light
sensitive materials were used on polychrome lusterware in Iraq dating back to the ninth century.
Vibrant stained glass windows such as the ones on church the walls of the church first arrived in
early Europe, dating back as far as the 6th to 15th centuries. Gold chloride and other metal
liquids were used to create colors that changed based on the position of the sun. (Wilkinson,

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2012) Damascus sabers were rich with gold and crystals that were dissolved in hydrochloric acid
to show ancient cement nanowires running through the blades. Even back in the 7th century,
humans were experimenting with microtechnology. In 1843, Michael Faraday discovered
colloids with ruby gold that showed up as gold under certain lighting and other colors in other
lighting. Erwin Muller invents in 1936 field emission microscopes, allowing for almost atomic
accuracy when examining solutions or materials under a microscope. Come 1947, John Bardeen,
and several companies like Bell Labs discovered transistors and expanded knowledge of tiny
superconductors. This leads into the 90s where companies like Nanophase technologies start
operating. Modern day technology begins.
Future Technology
The model incorporates all of the present technologies that makes DNA modification by a
maneuverable nano car a possibility. The essential component, the nanocar, will be able to travel
through any terrain the body poses to it, especially viscous fluids and cell walls. The nano car
will also have attached to it a variety of nanomachines. As the nano cars will still be almost twice
the size of the DNA, they will need walker-enzymes to properly attach. The nano cars also have
attached to them the DNA sensing elements (biosensors) and the DNA modifying elements
(nicking enzyme). With these elements, along with an enzyme that can change the base pairs of
DNA, attached to the mobile nano car, genetic repair will commence. The nano cars may be
controlled by human manipulation or by programming through the use of DNA microtubules.
Complex directions will be necessary for the function of these nano cars, and so even more
complicated nanotechnology in the form of microprocessors will have been made to coordinate
the nano cars' efforts.
Breakthroughs

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DNA polymerase is an enzyme protein that is responsible with reading the split half of
DNA and creating the adjacent half with the complementary base pairs. Because DNA is the
code that creates us along with every protein in the body, it is also responsible for harboring the
defects that many people suffer from. By attaching to the enzyme DNA polymerase, genetic
disorders will be solved from their source -- the DNA and not the RNA or any subsequent stage
of the disease. The attachment of the nanocar to the DNA polymerase will be possible because of
the protein structure of DNA polymerase -- it allows carbohydrates to attach to it just like other
proteins do, and the nano car could be absorbed in the carbohydrate as a means of transportation
to the DNA polymerase.
Carbohydrates are capable of latching onto proteins and transforming into new structures
named glycoproteins. The carbohydrate would also be able to be absorbed into the cell by
passing the semipermeable lipid bilayer that protects the inside of the cell from the outside. This
makes it a viable method of transportation and attachment for the nanocar to the DNA
polymerase. After the nanocar is in place, the bio-sensing nano machine will run its course of
reading the codons of the DNA. The new technology that will be included in addition this sensor,
is an effector. A nanomachine of some sort will be able to use the information regarding the
codons read by the bio-sensor, and substitute incorrect base pairs for correct base pairs. Like the
other nanomachines, this functionality will be possible by the mimicking of an enzyme that is
already present in the body, exonuclease, which cuts out a base pair and allows for the DNA
polymerase to add the correct nucleotide for the base. This will be applicable to all DNA
mutations with the necessary amount of testing and improvement as technology advances.
The attachment of nano cars to a variety of nanomachines is not possible today because
of the novelty of the nanocar. With further development of nano cars, the attachment of the bio-

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sensing and exonuclease-like enzymes will be possible. Nano cars of today are unable to house
these nano machines for reasons like size, or bonding characteristics, these are problems that
require breakthroughs. Transportation of nano cars through different mediums is impossible
today because nano cars movement has not been developed further than across a perfectly level
sheet of gold. The breakthrough that would grant mobility to nano cars would be a nano machine
propeller, that models bacterial flagella. Lastly, the nano cars programming is a technology that
has not been adequately developed in the present. smaller microchips, or the coding of
information on DNA microtubules, are necessary to provide the nanocar with directions on how
to find its way to the DNA polymerase, begin reading codons, and cut out the harmful base pairs.
Design Process
The functionality of the nanocar came about from rejecting the concepts of direct
manipulation of DNA, application of nano cars to mRNA, and the reliance on carbon nano
tubules. The idea of application of the nano cars to mRNA was rejected because it would not fix
the problem at the source. DNA is responsible for providing the information for protein synthesis
that is necessary for the body to survive. It conveys these blueprints for creating protein through
mRNA. An original idea was to apply nano cars to mRNA polymerase and create an edited copy
of mRNA every time the DNA was activated to create protein, but this would be very redundant;
nano cars would have to be present every single time the mRNA was made. Instead, nano cars
should be applied directly to the DNA during its replication period to leave a new, permanently
edited DNA that would replicate by itself naturally. The idea of direct manipulation was rejected
because it would be more effective to affect the reproduction of the cells rather than the
processes of the cell itself. When the cell is replicated, two copies of DNA are the products. The
growth of the repaired DNA would be exponential, requiring less nano cars for the same intended

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effect; as the number of genetically edited cells increases, they will far outnumber and therefore
have a greater effect than the genetically unaltered diseased cells. Direct manipulation was also
considered ineffective because of the carbon nano tubules that it relies upon. Carbon nano
tubules would require many complicated movements, and the ability to physically manipulate
base pairs of DNA. The similar effect of DNA repair that a nano machine has, an example being
the bio-sensing enzyme, with a more efficient mechanism of cutting out the incorrect base pair
and allowing the DNA polymerase to fix the error, makes the manipulation of base pairs by
carbon nano tubules an ineffective method of manipulation.
Consequences
The problem with genetic disorders is that their cures do not solve the genetic
malfunction at the source -- the DNA. Advanced nano cars will exist to solve this problem, by
repairing the base pairs that cause the genetic disorder. Specific examples of such mutations
include sickle cell anemia, and certain cancers, such as the BRCA genes that ironically are
responsible for DNA repair (National Cancer Institute, 2014). The positive consequences of
DNA altering nano cars are very apparent -- cures to genetic diseases. The negative
consequences of this advanced nanotechnology could be just as detrimental as the genetic
diseases that it is meant to cure.
When tampering with such a delicate molecule such as DNA, consequences can arise.
Due to DNA's essential job in life, it is critical that the programming of the nano cars does not
have room for error in its modification of DNA base pairs. One base pair change in the wrong
place could mean further genetic problems because of faulty proteins, or it could result in a total
malfunction of the replication of DNA. Malfunctioning nano cars could mean life or death to the
patient that is being treated

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References
Davies, C. (2009). Oversight of Next Generation Nanotechnology. Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars.
Fan, C. (2013). DNA Nanotechnology: From Structure to Function. Berlin: Springer.
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Newitz, A. (2012, December 10). 8 Incredible Nanotechnologies that Actually Exist Today.
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Wilkinson, J. (2012, August 14). Michael Faraday's gold colloids. Retrieved January 23,
2015, from http://www.rigb.org/our-history/iconic-objects/iconic-objects-list/faradaygold-colloids