On Nov. 27, 2024, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign announced they had developed a nanorobotic hand made of DNA that can grab viruses for detection or inhibition. The team created a tiny, four-fingered “hand” folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from entering cells to infect them.

Dubbed the NanoGripper, the nanorobotic hand also could be programmed to interact with other viruses or to recognize cell surface markers for targeted drug delivery, such as for cancer treatment. The fingers contain regions called DNA aptamers that are specially programmed to bind to molecular targets — the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19, for this first application ­— and trigger the fingers to bend to wrap around the target. On the opposite side, where the wrist would be, the NanoGripper can attach to a surface or other larger complex for biomedical applications such as sensing or drug delivery.

The researchers found that when NanoGrippers were added to cell cultures that were then exposed to COVID-19, multiple grippers would wrap around the outside of the viruses. This blocked the viral spike proteins from interacting with receptors on the cells’ surface, preventing infection. The researchers describe their advance in the journal Science Robotics.