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Letter

Nature Materials 8, 590–595 (1 July 2009) | doi:10.1038/nmat2471

Switchable self-protected attractions in DNA-functionalized colloids

Mirjam E. Leunissen , R|[eacute]|mi Dreyfus , Fook Chiong Cheong , David G. Grier , Roujie Sha , Nadrian C. Seeman & Paul M. Chaikin

Surface functionalization with DNA is a powerful tool for guiding the self-assembly of nanometre- and micrometre-sized particles. Complementary |[lsquo]|sticky ends|[rsquo]| form specific inter-particle links and reproducibly bind at low temperature and unbind at high temperature.