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Complex Biological Systems

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Handbook of Science and Technology Convergence

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Abstract

Biological entities range in scale and complexity from the simplest viruses to multicellular organisms with specialized cells, tissues, and organs. Within a cell of any organism, there are an enormous number of biomolecular complexes that perform physical and chemical tasks with remarkable speed and fidelity. The goals in many nanoscale engineering applications mirror the major challenges that Nature has overcome in the engineering of biomolecular systems. As such, there exist some basic paradigms of biological design that can either be mimicked or exploited for nanoengineering applications. In this chapter, several paradigms for biological control at the nanoscale are identified, and several key examples are leveraged to identify how these ideas can be used in a range of engineered systems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Clark Center, room S231A, 318 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Andrew J. Spakowitz

  2. Biophysics Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Andrew J. Spakowitz

  3. Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Andrew J. Spakowitz

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Andrew J. Spakowitz

  5. Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA

    Andrew J. Spakowitz

Authors
  1. Andrew J. Spakowitz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew J. Spakowitz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cybr-HumnSysPrg,DivofInfrmtn&Intlgntsyst, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia, USA

    William Sims Bainbridge

  2. NatlSciFondtn&NatlNanotechnlgyInitiative, Arlington, Virginia, USA

    Mihail C. Roco

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Spakowitz, A.J. (2016). Complex Biological Systems. In: Bainbridge, W., Roco, M. (eds) Handbook of Science and Technology Convergence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07052-0_81

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