Viruses are ideal templates for engineering multifunctional materials. They can exhibit multiple copies of surface ligands and encapsulate inorganic and organic materials. Here, viruses are assembled into well-defined micrometre-sized objects by the addition of dendritic linkers. The linkers are designed to decompose on irradiation, which results in the release of the original virus particles.
- Mauri A. Kostiainen
- Oksana Kasyutich
- Roeland J. M. Nolte