Uing DNA, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory are studying how to control both the speed of nanoparticle assembly and the structure of its resulting nanoclusters.

The synthetic DNA used in the laboratory is capped onto individual gold nanoparticles and customized to recognize and bind to complementary DNA located on other particles. This process forms clusters containing multiple particles.

The research could potentially lead to applications ranging from more efficient energy generation and data storage to cell-targeted systems for drug delivery, according to a BNL statement.