Models for DNA-based Tile Self-Assembly

Series
Research Horizons Seminar
Time
Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 12:20pm for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Daniel Cruz – Georgia Tech
Organizer
Skye Binegar
A set of elementary building blocks undergoes self-assembly if local interactions govern how this set forms intricate structures. Self-assembly has been widely observed in nature, ranging from the field of crystallography to the study of viruses and multicellular organisms. In this talk, we give an overview of tile assembly models (TAMs) whose elementary building blocks (i.e. tiles) are polygons which have been defined with rules for local interaction. In particular, we present the basic concepts associated with two of the most well-studied TAMs: the abstract Tile Assembly Model (aTAM) and the Two-Handed Assembly Model (2HAM). We show how TAMs are related to the problem of designing nanoscale structures with DNA. We also present some of the major results within this field of study.