Sunscreen Made of DNA Improves with Longer Wear

저자：   업로드：2017-07-28  조회수：

    Imagine the scene: white sandy beach, turquoise waters, the sound of waves gently rolling into the shoreline. You think to yourself, “This is where I want to spend my day or maybe the even the rest of my days.” As you gently begin to drift away mentally, reality sets in for a moment and you realize that the fireball in the sky is going to cook your leathery exterior in about 10 minutes if you don’t put some sunblock on. You reach over and grab your bottle of scientifically formulated SPF sunscreen, and lather on a big handful of liquid…DNA?

    The vacation scenario sort of comes to screeching halt when you hit that last sentence. Yet, the question you should be asking yourself is if the tale is really all that far-fetched? Investigators at Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY) didn’t think so, as they just released data on their development of a coating made out of DNA that gets better at protecting skin from ultraviolet (UV) light the more you expose it to the sun—in addition to keeping your skin hydrated. Findings from the new study were published today in Scientific Reports in an article entitled “Non-Ionizing UV Light Increases the Optical Density of Hygroscopic Self Assembled DNA Crystal Films.”

    The research team was able to develop thin and optically transparent crystalline DNA films. After irradiating the films with UV light, the scientists found that the more they exposed them to UV light, the better the films got at absorbing it.

    "UV light can actually damage DNA, and that's not good for the skin," explained senior study investigator Guy German, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Binghamton University. "We thought, let's flip it. What happens instead if we actually used DNA as a sacrificial layer? So instead of damaging DNA within the skin, we damage a layer on top of the skin."

    Beyond the acute effects of UV exposure, such as sunburn, previous studies have also shown that UV irradiation leads to premature aging of the skin and leading forms of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinoma and melanoma. The UV light spectrum is divided into four segments, of which only two, UVA and UVB, have been associated with skin damage and cancer. The UVA/B wavelengths are where the University of Binghamton researchers focused their attention.     

    “We report on ultraviolet (UV) light induced increases in the UV optical density of thin and optically transparent crystalline DNA films formed through self-assembly,” the authors wrote. “The films are comprised of closely packed, multifaceted and sub micron sized crystals. UV-Vis spectrophotom

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