The Molecular Programming Project: Molecular Programming Architectures, Abstractions, Algorithms, and Applications

Our Expeditions in Computing aimed to establish the foundations for molecular programming as a new discipline within computer science. The UCSF site has primarily focused on realizing demand-meeting applications of the DNA origami method, building new experimental methods and computer-aided design tools to aid in those efforts, and inspiring the next generation of young scientists to join our growing community and gain hands-on experience in the lab through an annual biomolecular design competition. We have created Nanoscale Tools for Cryo-EM that hold great potential to help overcome several technical challenges currently limiting the application of Cryo-EM to large numbers of proteins. We have developed structure prediction and design optimization tools to improve and accelerate the design process of DNA origami. We reduced DNA sequence constraints by introducing a new phagemid vector and robust cloning strategy to create custom scaffolds. Our group also just hosted the 8th annual BIOMOD competition at UCSF and are organizing the 9th in 2019.