Sequence-Selector optimization of DNA-origami folding — Nat Commun; Famulok group (Universität Bonn) with collaborators. Demonstrated (peer-reviewed)
The work targets a long-standing weak point: unintended scaffold–staple base-pairing that creates kinetic traps and lowers assembly yield. By computationally screening staple sets to minimize off-target interactions (their "Sequence Selector" algorithm), then cross-checking with imaging and single-molecule optical-tweezers force measurements, the team improved both folding yield and the mechanical uniformity of the resulting objects. Why it matters: moves DNA-origami design from empirical staple choice toward a predictive sequence-level rule set — directly relevant to reproducible, mechanically defined nanostructures for downstream assembly. Distinct from the UT-Austin (Marras) folding-speed work reported earlier this cycle.
Inverted metal-free active-template rotaxane synthesis via axle-mediated macrocyclization — Nature Chemistry; Zhong, Troncossi, Olivieri et al. Reported (peer-reviewed; exact publication date within/near window not independently confirmed)
Instead of building the ring first and threading it, flexible oligo(ethylene-glycol) axles template the formation of a macrocycle around themselves, with the axle accelerating amide-bond macrocyclization through hydrogen bonding — giving [2]rotaxanes in up to ~70% yield and, with longer axles, iterative assembly of up to four threaded macrocycles on an octa(ethylene-glycol) chain. Why it matters: a metal-free, modular way to raise the "order" of interlocked molecules is an enabling step for supramolecular machine assembly; flag as adjacent-to-core (functional supramolecular chemistry, not atomic-precision manufacturing per se).
No new companies, spinouts, funding rounds, M&A, or partnerships with an atomic-precision angle surfaced within the window. (An AI-for-molecular-machine startup, "Anthrogen," appeared in adjacent search results but with no dated, primary, in-window announcement — omitted as unverified.)
None within the window.
No new items in: atomically precise manufacturing / mechanosynthesis; scanning-probe / single-atom manipulation and on-surface synthesis; de novo protein design and engineered protein nanomachines; molecular motors/rotors/switches beyond the rotaxane item above; foldamers; enabling atomic-resolution imaging tools; productive nanosystems / self-assembly toward manufacturing; people-to-watch and grants/programs.