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.
A new study shows that the way amyloid proteins—implicated in Alzheimer's disease—assemble into fibrils can be significantly influenced by the spin orientation of electrons on magnetized surfaces. Depending on the direction ...
Bio & Medicine
Jul 31, 2025
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When the Empire State Building was constructed, its 102 stories rose above midtown one piece at a time, with each individual element combining to become, for 40 years, the world's tallest building. Uptown at Columbia, Oleg ...
Bio & Medicine
Jul 9, 2025
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Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a new way to build and control tiny particles that can move and work like microscopic robots, offering a powerful tool with applications in biomedical and environmental ...
Nanomaterials
Jul 8, 2025
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Cornell researchers have found a new and potentially more accurate way to see what proteins are doing inside living cells—using the cells' own components as built-in sensors.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 1, 2025
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Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, report in Small, on how short peptides self-assemble linearly on atomically-thick solid surfaces, such as graphite and MoS2.
Nanomaterials
Jun 26, 2025
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In an elegant fusion of art and science, researchers at Rice University have achieved a major milestone in nanomaterials engineering by uncovering how boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs)—touted for their strength, thermal stability ...
Nanophysics
Jun 24, 2025
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For the past five years, researchers at Leipzig University have been working on fundamentally new methods for selectively assembling gaseous, charged molecular fragments into new, complex molecules. The synthesized substances ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 23, 2025
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In a recent study that merges supramolecular chemistry and molecular electronics, a research team has demonstrated how supramolecular porphyrin-based cages can enable tunable photoresponsive charge transport (CT) behaviors ...
Nanophysics
May 13, 2025
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Controlling the topology and structure of entangled molecular strands is a key challenge in molecular engineering, particularly when attempting to create large nanostructures that mimic biological systems. Examples found ...
Bio & Medicine
May 9, 2025
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9
A research team has developed a novel aerosol-based emulsion system that enables the self-assembly of asymmetric nanostructures—something long considered a major challenge in materials science. The team includes researchers ...
Nanophysics
Apr 30, 2025
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