Biomolecular Assemblies: Moving from Observation to Predictive Design Corey J. Wilson,† Andreas S. Bommarius,† Julie A. Champion,† Yury O. Chernoff,‡,≡ David G. Lynn,‖ Anant K. Paravastu,† Chen Liang,‖ Ming-Chien Hsieh,‖ Jennifer M. Heemstra‖,* †School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States ‡School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States ≡Laboratory of Amyloid Biology & Institute of Translational Biomedicine, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia ‖Department of Chemistry, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States *corresponding author,
[email protected] ABSTRACT: Biomolecular assembly is a key driving force in nearly all life processes, providing structure, information storage, and communication within cells and at the whole organism level. These assembly processes rely on precise interactions between functional groups on nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and small molecules, and can be fine tuned to span a range of time, length, and complexity scales. Recognizing the power of these motifs, researchers have sought to emulate and engineer biomolecular assemblies in the laboratory, with goals ranging from modulating cellular function to the creation of new polymeric materials. In most cases, engineering efforts are inspired or informed by understanding the structure and properties of naturally occurring assemblies, which has in turn fueled the development of predictive