QnAs with Daan Frenkel.

The self-assembly of biological molecules and systems is a common phenomenon in nature. Linear chains of protein molecules fold into functional 3D structures in one example of biological self-assembly (1). Computational scientist Daan Frenkel at the University of Cambridge seeks to explore how self-assembly might be applied to fields such as nanoscience, manufacturing, and robotics, among others (2). Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, Frenkel uses numerical modeling to mimic the behavior of atomistic andmolecular systems and unravel the principles of self-assembly. Frenkel spoke to PNAS about some of the challenges involved in studying self-assembly using numerical modeling.