Origami - the art of scientific research

Origami is the ancient art of paper folding, aimed at creating complex 3D constructions from a 2D sheet. Amazingly, the mysterious properties of origami are not limited to art alone; its principles are guided by mathematical and physical roles, that can be applied in the nano scale to generate both mechanical and biological structures. Thus, those principles are currently being harnessed for research, specifically, for DNA-origami methods, and particle origami-based robots that shrink and expand to mimic the interactions between biomolecular components. In an article published in the journal International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Dr Nir Qvit and his associates use the origami model to explore the bacterial microcompartment (BMC). The researchers generated origami-based 3D-printed models of the icosahedron organelle of the BMC, and studied its function in maintaining a highly specialized environment for biochemical reactions using finite element analysis framework.