Abstract: TBA

Abstract: We review a formal model of molecular self-assembly known as the abstract Tile Assembly Model (aTAM). The aTAM which models the interaction of artificial biochemical macromoleclues known as "DNA tiles", which are capable of binding to each other in specific and surprising ways. The goal of this and other models of self-assembly is to study the feasibility of engineering nanoscale structures through a bottom-up approach, through the "programming" of molecules to automatically assemble themselves, in contrast to top-down approaches such as lithography.

After presenting the aTAM and a few basic results that illustrate its power and its limitations, we survey some theoretical conjectures. These conjectures share the properties of being easy to state, easy to understand, "obviously true", and unresolved. A primary goal is to frustrate the audience with the simplicity of these problems, in the hopes that one of them will step in and solve them.