Lessons from Biology for Engineering Tiny Devices

In this course we present a survey of problems at the interface of biology, physics and engineering to discuss how nature invented many tiny sensors, machines and structures that are important for functions of cells and organisms. Using this knowledge, we comment how to engineer and self-assemble tiny devices with DNA origami, how to design thin structures that can transform into specific shapes in response to external stimulus, how to make structures with tunable surface properties (drag, adhesion, hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity), how to make flexible electronics, how to make metamaterials with unusual properties, etc.