Their findings are detailed in a paper published online in February in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Purdue researchers had previously developed a technique for precisely placing strands of DNA on a silicon chip and then stretching out the strands so that their encoded information might be read more clearly. The current work by Ivanisevic's team builds on that previous research.

"We incubate the particles and DNA in a solution, and the electric charge brings them together to form the wire," Ivanisevic said. "Then we basically make smaller wire segments with magnetic particles attached to this DNA sequence."

Because magnetic components are essential for today's computer memory, the findings represent potential future applications for DNA-based structures in computers created with "molecular electronics," in which biological molecules might be harnesses to create devices for computers, sensors and other uses. Self-assembly might be used in the future to create electronic devices at lower cost than is possible with conventional manufacturing processes.

Additional details of their work is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2005/050228.Ivanisevic.DNAwires.html