The laboratory of Steven S. Smith, Ph.D. brings chemists and molecular biologists together for work on epigenetics as we help to build a science of Bionanotechnology. We approach epigenetics, like other problems in biology at the molecular level as a form of reverse engineering. Charles Darwin’s Evolution by Natural Selection, Adam Smith’s Unseen Hand, and Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan provide the fundamental principle of biology: engineering by an unseen engineer.
In studies of epigenetics our efforts use reverse engineering to understand how patterns of methylation are set up on DNA and propagated in living things. In studies of bionanotechnology we study the science of supramolecular assembly in order to forward engineer molecular devices useful in biological research.
