Collaborative Research: EMT - Programmable Molecular Movements

New York University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

DNA Nanotechnology is a branch of science that enables scientists to build nanomechanical devices and regular arrays, using the information content of designed DNA molecules; the components of such species are usually DNA 'tiles' made from molecules designed to branch. The effectiveness and diversity of these constructs can be enhanced markedly by getting the tiles to self-assemble according to logical operations, rather than by a single design. This research involves programming a series of tiles to organize a group of DNA nanomechanical devices according to a given input. The devices consist of two different related types of molecules, so that when one rotates a robot arm in one direction, the other rotates it in the opposite direction, thereby leading to molecular choreography. This choreography will be used to modify the contents of a load carried by a walking device past the robot arms. The importance of this system is that it will prototype programmable molecular-scale assembly lines, capable of algorithmically organizing and relocating potential nanoelectronic components into desired arrangements that will result in useful circuitry. This research involves using TX DNA tiles that correspond to Wang tiles to simulate a finite state machine with output, to design the initial base row for the arrangement. According to the coding of the base row, specific TX tiles and 2-state-device-containing cassettes containing robot arms and PX-JX2 devices are then organized into a 2D array. A walker equipped with cargo will move across the platform that has been organized. The cargo is then modified as a consequence of the computation that creates the array.