DNA origami can be used to create basic shapes that can then be covered with viral coat proteins. According to Dutch, Finnish and Australian researchers writing in Nature Nanotechnology, the resulting structures can be used, among other things, to transport small molecules.

Capsids of viruses have been used for some time in vaccines, where they act as virus-like particles. But they are also widely used in nanobioengineering, especially the capsids of the CCMV virus. Making spherical structures from these capsids is now a piece of cake, but the Finnish-Australian-Dutch team has now found a way to make alternative structures from these capsids using DNA origami.