Principal Investigator Skylar Tibbits
Project Website http://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/biomolecular
The BioMolecular Self-Assembly project, completed for the TED Global Conference in 2012, is a project done in collaboration with molecular biologist Arthur Olson at the Scripps Research Institute and Autodesk. This project demonstrates molecular self-assembly through tangible and physical models. The geometry and material components are based on various molecular structures including the tobacco plant virus, a ferritin protein assembly and catechol dioxygenase enzyme. Each beaker contains a single molecular structure colored either white, red or black, which could be shaken hard enough to break the structure apart, or consistently, yet randomly, to allow for the self-assembly of a complete and precise geometry.