CRII: AF: RUI: Explorations in the Self-Assembly of Distributed Biological Functions

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The process of self-assembly is observable in many natural phenomena. Through this process, individual components (for example, molecules) that are guided merely by local binding rules coalesce to form complex structures. This process is integral to the formation of many vastly complicated structures such as snowflakes and even biological organisms like viruses. Using self-assembly, scientists are developing a bottom-up manufacturing approach to nanotechnology where instead of starting with raw materials and extracting a desired structure, molecular building blocks are designed so that these building blocks selectively bind in such a way that the desired structure self-assembles with molecular- (if not atomic-) level precision. While many mathematical models have been defined to serve as a theory for the design and analysis of engineered self-assembling systems, as self-assembly is also a naturally occurring phenomenon, models of self-assembly are useful in modeling natural systems. A common important feature of many naturally occurring examples of self-assembling systems is that these systems are driven by the complex interaction of distributed components. In order to describe the balancing act observed in the distributed components that play a role in many biological functions, this project will use mathematical models of self-assembly to study how complex sequences of communication between self-assembled components can yield functionality that surpasses functionality of a single self-assembled component. By supporting many undergraduate research assistants, this project will impact the campus and departmental research environment, as well as the quality of undergraduate education. Moreover, the project will increase awareness of interdisciplinary research at University of Wisconsin-River Falls by means of an interdisciplinary research seminar targeting a general audience and advertised to undergraduate students. The project proposes the study of fundamental questions that initiate the development of rigorous frameworks for modeling systems which exhibit distributed behaviors, leading to techniques that could directly be applied in defining tile assembly systems which mimic biological functions. Ultimately, studying distributed systems in models of self-assembly leads to further understanding of the complex behaviors as well as potential novel uses of distributed systems in self-assembly - uses that can be employed in engineered self-assembling systems. The project will use active tile assembly models such as the Signal-passing Tile Assembly Model (STAM) to define and analyze systems, which overcome defined constraints to exhibit algorithmic behavior, by necessarily relying on this behavior being distributed among the individual assemblies of the system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.