Exploring the Three-Dimensional Arrangement of Droplets

Abstract

AbstractWe present some work in progress on the development of a probabilistic chemical compiler, being able to make a plan of how to create a three-dimensional agglomeration of artificial hierarchical cellular constructs. Such programmable discrete units offer a wide variety of technical innovations, like a portable biochemical laboratory being able to produce macromolecular medicine on demand. This paper focuses on one specific issue of developing such a compiler, namely the problem of first studying and then predicting the spatial transition from an originally one-dimensional lineup of droplets into a three-dimensional, almost spherical arrangement, in which the droplets form a network via bilayers connecting them and in which they are contained within some outer hull. The network created by the bilayers allows the droplets to communicate with their neighbors and to exchange chemicals contained within them, thus enabling a complex successive biochemical reaction scheme.