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US 8,507,778 B2Granted
Self-assembled polyhedra
OwnerArthur J. Olsoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Self-assembling multimeric physical models of closed polyhedral structures made of structurally symmetric units, and which mimic the structure and self-assembly characteristics of naturally occurring systems such as viral capsids, are provided. Also provided are methods of creating structurally symmetric units, kits for forming self-assembling physical models of polyhedral structures, and methods of forming the same.
Claims19
A method of creating a closed and self-assembled multimer model structure, the method comprising:
- (a) providing a plurality of separate, non-connected structurally symmetric units that form a self-assembled multimer structure, each of said units having a plurality of at least one type of basic component, said basic components comprise at least one type of attachment entity being positioned in or on a portion thereof, said units having structural complementarity to one another so as to form the closed and self-assembled multimer structure upon inducing proximity and orientation of said attachment entities;
- and
- (b) encouraging by application of undirected kinetic energy said plurality of said separate, non-connected units to physically interact through random motion therebetween via said attachment entities, thereby creating the closed and self-assembled multimer structure;
- wherein self-assembly persists from a separate, non-connected state of the units to the formation of the closed multimer structure.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.