Self-assembly is the ubiquitous process by which objects autonomously assemble into complexes.Nature provides many examples: Atoms react to form molecules.  Molecules react to form crystals and supramolecules. Cells sometimes coalesce to form organisms. Even heavenly bodies self-assemble into astronomical systems. It has been suggested that self-assembly will ultimately become an important technology, enabling the fabrication of great quantities of small complex objects such as computer circuits. Recent developments in DNA computing have highlighted the intimate connection between self-assembly and computation. Despite its importance, self-assembly is poorly understood both in theory and in practice.

At the Laboratory for Molecular Science, we study self-assembly experimentally at the molecular scale (in collaboration with Erik Winfree at CalTech) and the meso-scale (cm size). We are also attempting to develop a theory of self assembly. Click here to see AFM images of DNA lattices self-assembled at the Winfree lab.

Here are some AFM images of DNA lattices self-assembled at the Laboratory for Molecular Science.