Caltech Subcontract:
Erik Winfree & Niles Pierce,
Principal Investigators
STATEMENT OF WORK
The Caltech team will contribute to this project software technology for design of DNA nanostructures. Building on Seeman’s sequence symmetry algorithms, we will incorporate additional factors, including more detailed DNA thermodynamics and geometry, into the molecular design models. We will also attempt to use proven algorithms from protein design to reduce the complexity of DNA sequence design. These new algorithms will be tested by using them to design the DNA structures described below. Several new structural motifs for DNA lattices. We will design small DNA tiles, consisting of few oligonucleotides, which will be useful for simplifying experimental procedures. Finally, we will modify tile designs for use in step-wise assembly procedures, by designing unique and oriented sites for controlled attachment. Unmediated algorithmic self-assembly of complex patterns useful as templates for molecular electronics. We will study and surmount the technical obstacles to unmediated self-assembly by focusing on a test-case, the binary counter, and its extension, the RAM circuit. In combination with the ability to attach molecular electronic components to the DNA tiles, this design would provide proof-of-principle for a bottom-up approach to fabricating electronic computers.