Self-assembly as a research area investigates the spontaneous organization of components into ordered structures driven by local interactions and thermodynamic or kinetic principles, without direct external manipulation of each element. It encompasses molecular, nanoscale, and mesoscale systems where noncovalent forces (e.g., van der Waals, electrostatic, hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding) or specific binding interactions encode structural information. Research focuses on understanding design rules, energy landscapes, and defect formation, as well as developing programmable systems (e.g., DNA origami, block copolymers, colloidal crystals) for applications in materials science, nanotechnology, and biotechnology, often linking equilibrium self-assembly with nonequilibrium and hierarchical assembly processes.
Researchers led by Professor Yi-Tsu Chan at National Taiwan University have created a giant molecular cage that mimics nature's nested structures. This layered nanocage is remarkably stable and can serve as a miniature reactor ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 26, 2025
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Research led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, shows how viruses form protective shells (capsids) around their genomes, a process that—while messy and complex—consistently results in highly symmetrical ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 24, 2025
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In a pioneering discovery, researchers at UNIST have captured, for the first time, the elusive intermediate stages involved in the pairing of cell membrane proteins. Contrary to long-held beliefs that such proteins bind instantaneously, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 23, 2025
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Researchers at IMDEA Materials Institute have developed a pioneering method to assemble silicon nanowires into ordered, macroscopic networks: a key step toward expanding their industrial applications.
Nanomaterials
Sep 9, 2025
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Everybody makes mistakes. Biology is no different. However, living organisms have certain error-correction mechanisms that enable their biomolecules to assemble and function despite the defective slough that is a natural ...
General Physics
Sep 2, 2025
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Researchers at the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a supramolecular co-assembly platform that produces chiral soft materials with strong and stable full-color ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 15, 2025
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In a discovery that could broaden access to next-generation biologic medicines and vaccines, researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) have engineered polymer-based nanoparticles ...
Bio & Medicine
Aug 7, 2025
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63
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune and the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay have developed an innovative, cost-effective method to produce high-quality metal nanoparticles, ...
Nanomaterials
Aug 6, 2025
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47
Newly developed DNA nanostructures can form flexible, fluid, and stimuli-responsive condensates without relying on chemical cross-linking, report researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo and Chuo University, in the ...
Bio & Medicine
Aug 6, 2025
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A new study published in July 2025 tackles one of science's most profound mysteries—how did life first emerge from nonliving matter on early Earth? Using cutting edge mathematical approaches, researcher Robert G. Endres ...
Astrobiology
Jul 31, 2025
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