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..... Nanostructures
..... Biomimetics
..... Bio-Nano

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Steven Benner -

• Bioinformatics: We are developing tools to manage genomic databases, predict protein conformation, and deduce information about physiological function from sequence data.
• Experimental paleobiochemistry: We are reconstructing ancestral proteins from extinct organisms to understand the interaction between the chemical behavior of proteins and their physiological function.
• Nucleic Acid Chemistry: We are developing an expanded genetic alphabet as a basis for in vitro selection experiments to generate new receptors, new catalysts, and self-replicating systems.
• Combinatorial chemistry: We are developing receptor-assisted combinatorial synthesis to explore large libraries of small molecules in search of biologically active compounds. Collaborator: Prof. J. Eyler.
• Astrobiology: A research program to interact with the Mars exploration project to identify "biosignatures", chemical indicators of life on other planets.
• Nanotechnology: We are developing self-assembling systems that reproduce the detail of biological assemblies.