http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/nanodna/
To produce a desired shape, images are drawn with a raster fill of a single long DNA molecule. This design is then fed into a computer program (such as SEQUIN) which calculates the placement of individual staple strands. Each staple binds to a specific region of the DNA template, and thus due to Watson-Crick base pairing the necessary sequences of all staple strands are known and displayed. The DNA is mixed and then heated and cooled. As the DNA cools the various staples pull the long strand into the desired shape. Designs are directly observable via several methods including atomic force microscopy, or fluorescence microscopy when DNA is coupled to fluorescent materials .
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