Workshop on DNA Computing by Self-Assembly

算法自组装运用计算思维设计系统，将大量相对简单的组件自主组合形成复杂的结构或进行计算。将计算理论的工具应用到这个领域已经导致了一套丰富的理论模型的发展，这些模型提供了对自组装系统的许多基本属性、能力和限制的见解。这也有助于为在实验室中开发人工自组装系统的实验工作形成路线图。在本次研讨会中，我们将介绍其中的几个理论模型。然后，研讨会的主讲人将调查各种各样的结果，在这些结果中，模型内部甚至跨模型的系统之间的模拟概念已被用于比较和对比这些模型及其包含的系统的能力。讨论将集中于具体的模拟概念的应用，包括内在的普遍性，以及它们借给自组装系统的各种属性的见解。算法自组装领域需要广泛领域的专业知识，从计算理论到生物化学，等等。本次研讨会的目的是让那些没有自组装经验的人可以参加，并将从介绍基本定义和模型开始，但将以讨论最近的技术成果结束，这也将是该领域专家感兴趣的。更广泛的影响本次研讨会的主要目标是向更多的研究人员，特别是学生介绍算法自组装领域。研讨会组织者将使用所提供的资金来支付参加研讨会的学生的旅费，该研讨会与非常规计算和自然计算2014会议同时举行。组织者将特别关注来自代表性不足的群体和具有各种背景的学生，以进一步扩大算法自组装的曝光率。该领域的进一步发展有可能导致技术创新，影响从材料科学、生物医学到先进计算架构的技术。

Algorithmic self-assembly uses computational thinking to design systems in which large numbers of relatively simple components autonomously combine to form complex structures or perform computations. Applying tools from computational theory to this domain has resulted in the development of a rich set of theoretical models which have provided insight into many fundamental properties, abilities, and limitations of self-assembling systems. This has also helped to form a road map for experimental work in developing artificial self-assembling systems in the laboratory. During this workshop, several of those theoretical models will be introduced. The workshop presenter will then survey a wide variety of results in which notions of simulation between systems within, and even across, models have been used to compare and contrast the powers of those models and the systems they contain. The discussion will focus on the application of specific notions of simulation, including intrinsic universality, and the insights they lend into various properties of self-assembling systems. Intellectual MeritThe field of algorithmic self-assembly requires expertise in a broad range of areas, from computational theory to biochemistry, to name a few. This workshop will be designed to be accessible to those with no previous experience in self-assembly, and will start with introductions to basic definitions and models, but will finish with discussions of recent technical results which will also be of interest to experts in the field. Broader ImpactThe main goal of this workshop is to introduce a larger population of researchers, especially students, to the area of algorithmic self-assembly. Workshop organizers will use the funds provided to cover the travel costs of students attending the workshop co-located with Unconventional Computation and Natural Computation 2014 conference. The organizers will focus especially on funding students from underrepresented groups and with a variety of backgrounds to further broaden the exposure of algorithmic self-assembly. Further development of this field has the potential to lead to technological innovations which impact technologies from materials science, to biomedicine, to advanced computing architectures.