Organizer: Prof. Robert Ghrist, Mathematics, UIUC [website; email]
Meeting time: Tuesday 4:00pm
Meeting location: Altgeld room 141Under the auspices of the NSF and the VIGRE program, an ALP in the Math Department at UIUC is a
collaborative research and learning experience between faculty, graduate students, and
undergraduates. ALP's in particular encourage undergraduate student participation. If you
are an undergraduate or graduate student interested in the interface between mathematics,
computer science, nanotechnology, biology, and chemistry, then show up!
It All Falls Into Place
News Feature
Nature 413, 667-668
(2001) [Oct]
Zharnov and Herr
New Frontiers: Self-Assembly and Nanoelectronics
IEEE Computer (???)
(2001)
Hogg
Robust Self-Assembly Using Highly Designable Structures
Nanotech. 10, 300-307
(1999)
Hosokawa et al
Two-Dimensional Micro-Self-Assembly Using the Surface
Tension of Water
Sensors & Actuators A 57, 117-125
(1996)
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Biomimetic Self-Assembly of a Functional Asymmetrical
Electronic Device
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 99(8), 4937-4940
(2002) [April]
Beyond Molecules: Self-Assembly of Mesoscopic and Macroscopic
Components
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 99(8), 4769-4774
(2002)[April]
Fabrication of a Cylindrical Display by Patterned Assembly
Science 296, 323-325
(2002) [April]
Self-Assembly at All Scales
Science 295, 2418-2421
(2002) [March]
Template-Directed Self-Assembly of 10 micrometer-sized
Hexagonal Plates
J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 124, 5419-5426
(2002)
Forming Electrical Networks in 3-D by Self-Assembly
Science 289, 1170-1172
(2000) [August]
Design and Self-Assembly of Open, Regular, 3D Mesostructures
Science 284, 948-950
(1999) [May]
Three-Dimensional Meso-Scale Self-Assembly
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 8267-8268
(1998)
Controlling Local Disorder in Self-Assembled Monolayers
by Patterning the Topography of their Mettalic Supports
Nature 394, 868-871
(1998) [August]
Spontaneous Formation of Ordered Structures in Thin
Films of Metals Supported on an Elastometric Polymer
Nature 393, 146-149
(1998) [May]
Self-Assembly of Mesoscale Objects into Ordered 2-D
Arrays
Science 276, 233-235
(1997) [April]
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Mucic et al.
DNA directed Synthesis of Binary Nanoparticle Network
Materials
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 12674-12675
(1998)
Thompson and Goel
Movable Finite Autonoma (MFA) Models for Biological
Systems I: Bacteriophage Assembly and Operation
J. Theor. Biol. 131, 351-385
(1988)
Casjens and King
Virus Assmebly
(an unknown text/proceedings!)
(1975)
Helling and Wingreen
Emergence of Preferred Protein Structures in a Simple
Model of Protein Folding
Science 273, 666-669
(1996)
Reif, LaBean, and Seeman
Challenges and Applications for Self-Assembled DNA
Nanostructures
preprint
(2000)
Winfree, Liu, Wenzler, and Seeman
Design and Self-Assembly of 2-D DNA Crystals
Nature 394, 539-544
(1998) [August]
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Klavins
Toward the Control of Self-Assembling Systems with
Autonomous Mesoscale Parts
preprint
(2002)
Balzani, Credi, and Venturi
Controlled Disassembly of Self-Assembling Systems:
Toward Artificial Molecular-Level Devices and Machines
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 99(8), 4814-4817
(2002) [April]
Rothemund
Using Lateral Capillary Forces to Compute by Self-Assembly
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 97(3), 984-989
(2000) [Feb]
Lohn, Haith, and Colombaro
Two Electromechanical Self-Assembling Systems
Proc. 6th Conf. on Molecular Nanotech.
(1998)
Penrose and Penrose
A Self-Reproducing Analogue
Nature 4571, 1183
(1957) This is not a typo!
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[Other simple explanations with pictures: here and here ]
Recall the process of trying to build a model airplane:
numerous minute components
requiring a large amount of effort and care to assemble
correctly. Technological
progress demands that we have the ability to build
things much smaller than a
model airplane, much more complex than a model airplane,
and with much greater
accuracy than I (at least) was ever able to muster.
Oh, and we need to do it all
en masse please.
This is the technological challenge which Self-Assembly
[SA] seeks to solve. Inspired
by both biology (cell wall construction, bacteriophage
production, DNA replication) and
chemisrty (molecular-level, mostly), one notes
that small, highly complex devices
can be built in a manner that one might call passive.
Several
research teams have
developed mechanical meso/macro scale examples of
SA in which fairly regular
lattice-like outputs arrange through passive means.
A simple set of examples involve
small flat tiles floating
on water. By painting the edges of the tiles with hydrophobic
or hydrophyllic materials, one can control the rough
properties of the meniscus at
the tile edges. By gently shaking or stirring the
tank, surface tension effects conspire
to pull the tiles together and arrange them effortlessly
into a lattice structure (albeit
with occasional defects).
Such methods have been successfully used in 2-d and
3-d systems in a variety of
geometries. In some very compelling work, researchers
have created very tiny
electrical
networks and even prototypes of fully
3-d computer chips (including
gaps for coolant flow!) through passive SA. On the
biological side, researchers
are using various DNA
strands as a coding device for assembling particular
pieces endowed with information. This has led to the
development of what one
might call "DNA
computers" --- systems which perform mathematical computations
via the arrangements of DNA-coded tiles. Fusing DNA
strands to mechanical
devices has led to effective machines
for detecting specific DNA strands in a
sample.
The technology is not yet to the point of being able
to assemble cell phones by
dumping the components into a tank and stirring. But
there are compelling tools
and perspectives coming from this body of research.
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1. Mathematics has always taken her cue from scientific
problems.
2. It is visually stimulating: no mathematician can
look at this
and not get excited.
3. The basic components that people build out of,
say, DNA, are
-- surprise --- geometrically natural.
4. You get to do experiments with Legos
and
hot
dogs. What a life!
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