Nucleic Acid Architectures for Therapeutics Diagnostics Devices and Materials

Nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) and their chemical analogs have been utilized as building materials due to their biocompatibility and programmability. RNA which naturally possesses a wide range of different functions is now being widely investigated for its role as a responsive biomaterial which dynamically reacts to changes in the surrounding environment. It is now evident that artificially designed self-assembling RNAs that can form programmable nanoparticles and supra-assemblies will play an increasingly important part in a diverse range of applications such as macromolecular therapies drug delivery systems biosensing tissue engineering programmable scaffolds for material organization logic gates and soft actuators to name but a few. The current exciting Special Issue comprises research highlights short communications research articles and reviews that all bring together the leading scientists who are exploring a wide range of the fundamental properties of RNA and DNA nanoassemblies suitable for biomedical applications.