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Cited by 8CRISPR and Genetic EngineeringMachine Learning in Materials ScienceNanotechnology research and applications

The DOI matches its Crossref record; none of the 7 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

CRISPR: Implications for materials science

Open access
Ball, Philip·2016·MRS Bulletin
DOI 10.1557/mrs.2016.250
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Abstract

This new technology should have implications outside the life sciences, in particular for the design and synthesis of new materials.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing may have implications beyond biology for materials science, especially by improving DNA nanotechnology and engineering organisms to make useful materials. The article surveys speculative and early applications, from DNA origami and molecular circuits to DNA data storage and living biomaterials.

Key findings

  • CRISPR/Cas9 could help make long DNA strands for DNA origami, because chemical synthesis of strands longer than 100–200 nucleotides is difficult; it might splice fragments into longer strands and check sequence accuracy.
  • DNA nanotechnology already enables molecular origami, 2D patterned arrays, 3D architectures, photonic device improvement, nanoparticle assembly, and data storage; CRISPR might introduce functionality by cleaving existing structures or releasing entrapped chemicals.
  • For DNA circuits, readout is a bottleneck: fluorescent colors readable simultaneously are limited in practice to 5 or 6, while researchers aim for systems with hundreds to thousands of strands; CRISPR/Cas9 could act as a molecular recorder or memory by editing long DNA sequences.
  • Milenkovic and co-workers used CRISPR/Cas9 to find and amplify or rewrite DNA-stored data, encoding and editing parts of the Wikipedia pages of six US universities; Hao Yan suggests DNA nanotechnology could enhance CRISPR and reduce high off-target rates, while Yamuna Krishnan suggests tailoring organisms to produce inorganic nanoparticles.

Methods

  • This is a news/analysis article in MRS Bulletin, not a primary research study; no experimental design, sample, or main analysis is reported.
  • It synthesizes expert commentary and examples from DNA nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and CRISPR/Cas9 applications.

Limitations

  • The paper states that some applications are speculative or distant, such as a molecular computer growing biomaterials or tissue, and that CRISPR/Cas9 has high off-target rates that challenge safe human use.
  • It also notes practical bottlenecks: DNA circuit readout is limited to 5–6 fluorescent colors, and chemical synthesis of DNA strands longer than 100–200 nucleotides is difficult.
  • Evident from the text: the article provides no primary data, systematic review, or quantitative evaluation and relies on expert quotes and selected examples.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1557/mrs.2016.250

Cites

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 7 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

  • Premisecitation

    Carolyn Bertozzi and Zev Gartner showed that DNA tags on the surfaces of living cells can be used to assemble them in a programmable way into controlled micro-tissues.

    “Carolyn Bertozzi and Zev Gartner of the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that DNA tags on the surfaces of living cells can be used to assemble them in a programmable way into controlled micro-tissues: “living” biomaterials, you might say.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites Carolyn Bertozzi

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

    • cites Zev Gartner

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 3
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 1

  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation

    In 2006, Paul W.K. Rothemund showed how to program DNA sequences systematically so that they fold up into any arbitrary structure.

    “In 2006, Paul W.K. Rothemund, also at Caltech, showed how to program DNA sequences systematically so that they fold up into any arbitrary structurean approach that can now yield intricate three-dimensional (3D) architectures.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Paul W.K. Rothemund

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation

    In 1991, Nadrian Seeman showed that DNA strands could be encoded with the information they need to assemble spontaneously into cube-shaped molecules.

    “That vision began with the pioneering work of Nadrian Seeman of New York University, who showed in 1991 that DNA strands could be encoded with the information they need to assemble spontaneously into cube-shaped molecules.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Nadrian Seeman

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • It may state two separate claims as one.

    Premisecitation

    André Estevez-Torres, Yannick Rondelez and colleagues made DNA constructs that interact to generate copies in an autocatalytic process, producing a reaction-diffusion chemical system that can form macroscale tunable patterns.

    “André Estevez-Torres of the Laboratory of Photonics and Nanostructures, near Paris in France, working with Yannick Rondelez at The University of Tokyo and colleagues, has made DNA constructs that interact to generate copies in an autocatalytic process, producing a so-called reaction-diffusion chemical system which can form macroscale tunable patterns.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites André Estevez-Torres

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

    • cites Yannick Rondelez

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation

    Erik Winfree and co-workers developed a form of DNA computation in which tile-like structures are programmed to assemble like cellular automata.

    “Erik Winfree and co-workers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a form of DNA computation in which tile-like structures are programmed to assemble like cellular automata.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Erik Winfree

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

4 of 4

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    CRISPR/Cas9 is a genome editing method that uses the Cas9 enzyme to target and edit particular genes.

    “CRISPR-Cas9 is a method of genome editing that exploits a natural DNA-snipping enzyme in bacteria, called Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) to target and edit particular genes.”

  • The paper relies on this without support.

    DNA has become a versatile polymeric substrate for making nanotechnological structures and artificial molecular-scale machinery for computation, pattern formation, and nanoscale assembly.

    “DNA has become a versatile polymeric substrate for making nanotechnological structures and artifi cial molecularscale machinery for computation, pattern formation, and nanoscale assembly.”
2 of 2

Citations

Cites

Still being checked.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Metadata

Authors
Ball, P.
Corresponding author
Ball, Philip
ORCID
Ball, Philip
Venue
MRS Bulletin
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2016-11
Volume
41
Issue
11
Pages
832-835
ISSN
  • 0883-7694 (ISSN-L)
  • 1938-1425
DOI
10.1557/mrs.2016.250
OpenAlex
W2552446791
Cited by
7
References
0
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2017: 1
Type
other
Language
en
Open access
Locations
MRS Bulletin (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › CRISPR and Genetic Engineering
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Machine Learning in Materials Science
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › General Materials Science › Nanotechnology research and applications
Keywords
CRISPR, genome editing, materials science, materials engineering

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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-11-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-11-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

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