Science and Technology Relatedness: The Case of DNA Nanoscience and DNA Nanotechnology

Abstract

The relatedness between knowledge components within the science domain is widely discussed in the economic, innovation, and management literature. The same is true for the technology domain. Yet, the relatedness between knowledge components across these knowledge domains has received considerably less attention. This chapter aims to introduce the concept of knowledge relatedness between science and technology (S&T), which have been disentangled as two distinct corpora. We approach S&T relatedness from two perspectives: content relatedness (with four indicators: similarity, complementarity, commonality, difference) and temporal relatedness. We then test our ideas with novel empirical material from the field of DNA nanoscience and DNA nanotechnology. We find that the relatedness between S&T scores relatively low, which may explain the relative lack of commercial activity in this field. In light of their indirect complementarity, we recommend that funding “bridging areas” could lead to simultaneous progress in S&T.

Annex. The Four Concepts Applied in the Concept Approach

It is worthwhile noting that some records where the concept “nanotechnology” is implicit, should be included in our datasets. Certain inventors choose not to mention nano-related terms explicitly or discuss only DNA or oligonucleotides. That might be the reason why a considerable number of patents belonging to DNA Nanotechnology is not classified under IPC-code B82 (Nanotechnology). From a conceptual point of view, DNA and nano are quite different. However, from a practical point of view, when discussing DNA or nucleotides, we should imply that the research is conducted at the nanoscale, since the dimension of a DNA strand is approximately 2.5 nm. Therefore, “DNA” and “*nucleotid*” are included in two concept areas (Nanotechnology and DNA) to avoid missing certain records that do not mention nano-related terms. Although DNA and Nanotechnology are closely related concepts, we have not grouped them because this leads to considerably more noise in the datasets selected. Thus, DNA-related terms must appear in the set under any conditions, while the presence of nano-related terms remains an option.

1.1 1. Description of the Four Concepts, as Well as the Exclusion Mechanisms Used

Concept A: Nanotechnology	“Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers” (definition from the US National Nanotechnology Initiative, 2000). Thus, any science or technology that works below the scale of 100 nanometers is considered “nanotechnology.” This definition is a broad one. We could therefore maximize our search by collecting synonyms referring to nanoscale or instruments used in nanotechnologies, such as specific types of microscopes (AFM, TEM, SEM)
Concept B: Design	The word “design” has two forms, the verb and the noun. As a noun, “design” refers to an object or an entity. As a verb, it refers to a process or series of activities. Design is the construction of an object or creation of an entity. An interesting feature of the DNA origami technique is that DNA strands are programmed, synthesized, and can self-assemble themselves afterward. We found all terms related to this process and listed them under the concept “design”
Concept C: Structure	Structure is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a particular arrangement of parts.” We found several synonyms of “structure” based on publications and patents in DNA-Nano by top contributors in the field such as Nadrian Seeman, Paul Rothemund, and others. We also noted specific words related to DNA structures and included them in our search
Concept D: DNA	DNA is the abbreviation of “deoxyribonucleic acid,” a type of nucleic acid, a chemical that carries genetic information in the cells of animals and plants (Oxford Dictionary), or any living organisms, and viruses (Wikipedia). It is interesting to note that the term DNA, as used in our research, refers to artificial DNA, not its natural form. However, its synonyms and related terms are borrowed from molecular biology
Exclusion terms in Titles (E1)	At the first level of exclusion, we excluded specific terms relating to other closely linked fields (e.g., molecular biology, genetic engineering, forensics). However, these terms could still appear in abstracts or keywords
Exclusion terms in Titles, Abstracts, and Keywords (E2)	At the second level of exclusion, we excluded the terms that should not appear in titles, abstracts, and keywords. This strongest exclusion has improved the precision of our data

1.2 2. Final Queries

Query for Publications

(Nanotechnology AND Design AND Structure AND DNA) NOT (E1 OR E2)

.. where

Nanotechnology = NANO* OR ‘ATOM* FORCE MICROSCOP*’ OR AFM OR TEM OR ‘TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOP*’ OR SEM OR ‘SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOP*’ OR ‘FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOP*’ OR ‘CRYO-ELECTRON MICROSCOP*’ OR ‘CRYO-EM’ OR MOLECUL* OR MULTIMER$ OR MONOMER$

Design = DESIGN* OR COMPUT* OR CONJUGAT* OR FORM* OR FOLD* OR JUXTAPOS* OR PROGRAM* OR BIND* OR BOUND OR ATTACH* OR LINK* OR CONNECT* OR CONSTRUCT* OR BRANCH* OR BOND* OR FABRICAT* OR ‘SELF-ASSEMBL*’ OR ‘SELF-REPLICAT*’ OR ‘SELF-ORGANI*’ OR ‘DIRECTED-ASSEMBL*’ OR SYNTHETIC OR ARTIFICIAL OR ‘NON-NATURAL’ OR UNNATURAL OR ‘NON-GENETIC’

Structure = ‘*STRUCTURE$’ OR DOMAIN$ OR SYSTEM* OR MOTOR* OR MACHIN* OR DEVICE$ OR ARRAY$ OR POLYHEDR* OR CONJUGATE$ OR LADDER$ OR ‘*ROBOT*’ OR JUNCTION$ OR SCAFFOLD* OR TEMPLAT* OR TILE$ OR TILING$ OR LATTICE$ OR ‘STICKY END*’ OR ‘COHESIVE END*’ OR STAPL* OR ‘LOGIC GATE*’ OR CIRCUIT$ OR ORIGAMI

DNA = DNA* OR ‘*NUCLEIC ACID*’ OR ‘DOUBLE HELI*’ OR HELICES OR ‘*STRAND*’ OR ‘*NUCLEOTID*’ OR FOLDAMER$ OR APTAMER$

E1 = RIBONUCLEIC OR CELL$ OR THERAP* OR INFLAMMAT* OR RIBOSOME$ OR BODY* OR SPECIES* OR BRAIN* OR ‘MOLECULAR CLONING’ OR EVOLUTION* OR IMMUN* OR DISORDER$ OR VIRUS* OR ORGANISM$ OR ORGAN$ OR BACTERI* OR ANTIBOD* OR HUMAN* OR MAMMAL$ OR TISSUE$ OR TRANSCRIPTION OR RAT$ OR MICE OR HSP* OR P53 OR STAT3 OR ‘NON-NUCLEIC’ OR ‘DNA SEQUENCING’ OR ‘GENETIC ENGINEERING’ OR GENETICS OR SYMPTOM$

E2 = METABOL* OR GEOGRAPH* OR NUTRI* OR YEAST$ OR TREE$ OR SOIL OR FISH* OR MARINE OR INJUR* OR WOUND* OR ‘GENE EXPRESSION’ OR ‘GENETIC STRUCTURE’ OR ‘GENETICALLY MODIFIED’ OR GMO OR ‘GENETICALLY ENGINEERED’ OR ‘GENE REGULATION$’ OR ‘GENETIC ALGORITHM$’ OR ‘GENE DELIVERY’ OR ‘GENE INTERACTION$’ OR ‘GENO*’ OR ‘PHYLOGEN*’ OR TRANSGENIC OR HORMON* OR ESTROGEN OR TESTOSTERONE OR PATIENT$ OR EMBRYO* OR POLYMERASE OR VACCIN* OR ANTIBIOTIC$ OR BLOOD OR FETAL OR FETUS OR OFFSPRING$ OR BLAST OR FUNG* OR MUTAT* OR CHROMOSOME OR ‘PRO POLYPEPTIDE$’ OR HELICASE OR INFECT* OR INSECT* OR PLANT$ OR ANIMAL$ OR FORENSIC$ OR NANOPLANKTON OR NANOFAUNA OR CAS9* OR NANO2 OR NANO3

Query for Patents

(Nanotechnology AND Design AND Structure AND DNA) NOT (E1 OR E2)

.. where

Nanotechnology = NANO* OR ‘ATOM* FORCE MICROSCOP*’ OR AFM OR TEM OR ‘TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOP*’ OR SEM OR ‘SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOP*’ OR ‘FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOP*’ OR ‘CRYO-ELECTRON MICROSCOP*’ OR ‘CRYO-EM’ OR MOLECUL* OR MULTIMER$ OR MONOMER$ OR ‘*NUCLEOTID*’ OR DNA

Design = CONJUGAT* OR FORM* OR FOLD* OR JUXTAPOS* OR PROGRAM* OR DESIGN* OR BIND* OR BOUND OR ATTACH* OR LINK* OR CONNECT* OR CONSTRUCT* OR BRANCH* OR BOND* OR FABRICAT* OR ‘SELF-ASSEMBL*’ OR ‘SELF-REPLICAT*’ OR ‘SELF-ORGANI*’ OR ‘DIRECTED-ASSEMBL*’ OR SYNTHETIC OR ARTIFICIAL OR ‘NON-NATURAL’ OR UNNATURAL OR ‘NON-GENETIC’ OR ORIGAMI

Structure = DOMAIN$ OR SYSTEM* OR MOTOR* OR MACHIN* OR DEVICE$ OR ARRAY$ OR POLYHEDR* OR CONJUGATE$ OR LADDER$ OR ‘*STRUCTURE$’ OR ‘*ROBOT*’ OR JUNCTION$ OR SCAFFOLD* OR TEMPLAT* OR TILE$ OR TILING$ OR LATTICE$ OR ‘STICKY END*’ OR ‘COHESIVE END*’ OR STAPL* OR ‘LOGIC GATE*’ OR CIRCUIT$

DNA³¹ =‘DNA ACTUAT*’ OR ‘DNA NANOTECHNOLOGY’ OR ‘FOLDING DNA’ OR ‘DNA STRUCTURE’ OR ‘DNA ORIGAMI’ OR ‘DNA COMPUT*’ OR ‘DNA HYBRIDIZ*’ OR ‘*NUCLEIC ACID*’ OR ‘DOUBLE HELI*’ OR HELICES OR ‘*STRAND*’ OR ‘*NUCLEOTID*’ OR FOLDAMER$ OR APTAMER$

E1 = RIBONUCLEIC OR ‘*RNA’ OR RADIOTHERAPY OR SPECIES OR ‘*ORGANISM’ OR ORGAN$ OR ‘BIOLOGICAL AGENT$’ OR BIOMARKER$ OR ENHANC* OR ‘*BASE’ OR PAIR* OR ‘*NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE’ OR RECEPTOR$ OR ‘*WEAR’ OR CLONING OR BIOSENSOR$ OR SYMPTOM$ OR AGGLOMERATION OR PURIF* OR INFLAMMAT* OR ‘DNA SYNTHESIS’ OR HEMOGLOBIN OR HIV OR BIOACTIVE OR ‘DNA AMPLIFICATION’ OR ‘NUCLEIC ACID AMPLIFICATION’ OR BLOOD OR VITAMIN$ OR IMMUN* OR ANTIBODY OR ANTIGEN$ OR REAGENT$ OR ENCOD* OR VIRUS* OR BACTERI* OR GENE$ OR ‘GENE EXPRESSION’ OR HUMAN$ OR PATIENT$ OR LIFE OR ‘AMINO ACID$’ OR TISSUE$ OR ‘NON-NUCLEIC’

E2 = ‘GENE INTERACTION’ OR TRANSFECT* OR TRANSLOCAT* OR PHENOTYPE OR HYDROGEN OR ENHANCER$ OR EVOLUTION* OR EMBRYO* OR SEA OR FISH* OR ‘SIDE EFFECT$’ OR CULTURE OR FLOWER* OR CARBOHYDRATE$ OR INHIBITOR$ OR MOUSE OR MICE OR CO-EXPRESSION OR POLYMORPHISM OR NON-CODING OR COPY OR COPIES OR PARENT$ OR EXON*