Matthew Patitz, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received a grant from the National Science Foundation. This grant, worth $533,690, is for his collaborative research project titled "FET: Small: Algorithmic Self-Assembly with Crisscross Slats."

This project utilizes DNA, the fundamental genetic material of all living organisms, as a construction material for nanoscale structures. Leveraging the inherent base-pairing properties of DNA, the project employs a strategy known as slat assembly, where DNA sequences are designed to fold into elongated slats. The slats are then pieced together to form complex geometries.

This approach aims to circumvent the limitations of previous DNA assembly methods — specifically, the high costs and error rates associated with constructing larger structures. Slat assembly stands to substantially lower these barriers, enabling the creation of more intricate and vast nanostructures. The potential impact of this research spans multiple fields, including healthcare, where it could lead to breakthroughs in disease detection and treatment, and nano-engineering, offering new methods for manufacturing at the nanoscale.

"Dr. David Doty from the University of California Davis, with whom I've collaborated for many years, brings extensive laboratory-based experimental expertise to these implementations," Palitz said. "He provides invaluable assistance in experimental protocol designs and sequence designs for DNA, a technically challenging aspect in which he specializes. On our end, Dr. Jin-Woo Kim carries out the laboratory experiments, and I focus on computational simulation, theoretical design and modeling. Working closely with Dr. Doty, we finalize the experimental design, crafting specific DNA sequences and protocols."

Patitz said, "This area is something I've always been really into, so I got into the area of self-assembly and this kind of molecular computing from an initial interest in the origin of life. I am really interested in how life arose from non-living materials.

"One aspect that I find particularly exciting about this project is its interdisciplinary nature." he said. "I mean, we have mathematicians, computer scientists, chemists, physicists and biochemists all working in this area. I've been a computational theorist forever, but I have gone into a lab and started learning how to do this stuff. It's powerful when you combine these multiple disciplines together and get people from different educational backgrounds to come together."

Patitz said, "I think it's really important that we are training interdisciplinary researchers. This is the kind of thing where I think the research frontiers are really going to explode in the next few years. That will happen by bringing together areas that have traditionally been kind of sealed off."