On Oct. 2, 2025, researchers in McGill’s Department of Physics announced they have developed a new device that can trap and study DNA molecules without touching or damaging them. The device, which uses carefully tuned electric fields, offers scientists unprecedented control over how DNA behaves in real time, creating the opportunity for faster, more precise molecular analysis that could improve diagnostics, genome mapping and the study of disease-related molecules.

Doctoral student Matheus Azevedo Silva Pessôa, a nanofluids researcher, developed the tool in collaboration with his fellow students in Professor Walter Reisner’s Nanobiophysics lab. Researchers from Professor Sara Mahshid’s Bioengineering lab at McGill, genomics technology startup Dimension Genomics, and the University of California, Santa Barbara also contributed.

Now, researchers can more quickly and gently modulate each DNA molecule by harnessing its inherent electrical qualities to guide it into a small well.

The researchers say that manipulating DNA at such a small scale can also help accelerate chemical reactions such as triggering liposomes – fat-based carriers often used in drug delivery – to open and release their contents, allowing scientists to further study these dynamics.

The platform could also be used to simulate cell environments, making it a powerful tool for both diagnostics and discovery.