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Documents authored by Woods, Damien

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.30.2
Domain-Based Nucleic-Acid Minimum Free Energy: Algorithmic Hardness and Parameterized Bounds

Authors: Erik D. Demaine, Timothy Gomez, Elise Grizzell, Markus Hecher, Jayson Lynch, Robert Schweller, Ahmed Shalaby, and Damien Woods

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 314, 30th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 30) (2024)

Abstract
Molecular programmers and nanostructure engineers use domain-level design to abstract away messy DNA/RNA sequence, chemical and geometric details. Such domain-level abstractions are enforced by sequence design principles and provide a key principle that allows scaling up of complex multistranded DNA/RNA programs and structures. Determining the most favoured secondary structure, or Minimum Free Energy (MFE), of a set of strands, is typically studied at the sequence level but has seen limited domain-level work. We analyse the computational complexity of MFE for multistranded systems in a simple setting were we allow only 1 or 2 domains per strand. On the one hand, with 2-domain strands, we find that the MFE decision problem is NP-complete, even without pseudoknots, and requires exponential time algorithms assuming SAT does. On the other hand, in the simplest case of 1-domain strands there are efficient MFE algorithms for various binding modes. However, even in this single-domain case, MFE is P-hard for promiscuous binding, where one domain may bind to multiple as experimentally used by Nikitin [Nat Chem., 2023], which in turn implies that strands consisting of a single domain efficiently implement arbitrary Boolean circuits.
Cite as

Erik D. Demaine, Timothy Gomez, Elise Grizzell, Markus Hecher, Jayson Lynch, Robert Schweller, Ahmed Shalaby, and Damien Woods. Domain-Based Nucleic-Acid Minimum Free Energy: Algorithmic Hardness and Parameterized Bounds. In 30th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 30). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 314, pp. 2:1-2:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{demaine_et_al:LIPIcs.DNA.30.2,
  author =	{Demaine, Erik D. and Gomez, Timothy and Grizzell, Elise and Hecher, Markus and Lynch, Jayson and Schweller, Robert and Shalaby, Ahmed and Woods, Damien},
  title =	{{Domain-Based Nucleic-Acid Minimum Free Energy: Algorithmic Hardness and Parameterized Bounds}},
  booktitle =	{30th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 30)},
  pages =	{2:1--2:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-344-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{314},
  editor =	{Seki, Shinnosuke and Stewart, Jaimie Marie},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.30.2},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-209304},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.30.2},
  annote =	{Keywords: Domain-based DNA designs, minimum free energy, efficient algorithms, NP-hard, P-hard, NC, fixed-parameter tractable}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/DagRep.13.2.183
Algorithmic Foundations of Programmable Matter (Dagstuhl Seminar 23091)

Authors: Aaron Becker, Sándor Fekete, Irina Kostitsyna, Matthew J. Patitz, Damien Woods, and Ioannis Chatzigiannakis

Published in: Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 13, Issue 2 (2023)

Abstract
This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 23091, "Algorithmic Foundations of Programmable Matter", a new and emerging field that combines theoretical work on algorithms with a wide spectrum of practical applications that reach all the way from small-scale embedded systems to cyber-physical structures at nano-scale. The aim of this seminar was to bring together researchers from computational geometry, distributed computing, DNA computing, and swarm robotics who have worked on programmable matter to inform one another about the newest developments in each area and to discuss future models, approaches, and directions for new research. Similar to the first two Dagstuhl Seminars on programmable matter (16271 and 18331), we did focus on some basic problems, but also considered new problems that were now within reach to be studied.
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Aaron Becker, Sándor Fekete, Irina Kostitsyna, Matthew J. Patitz, Damien Woods, and Ioannis Chatzigiannakis. Algorithmic Foundations of Programmable Matter (Dagstuhl Seminar 23091). In Dagstuhl Reports, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp. 183-198, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@Article{becker_et_al:DagRep.13.2.183,
  author =	{Becker, Aaron and Fekete, S\'{a}ndor and Kostitsyna, Irina and Patitz, Matthew J. and Woods, Damien and Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis},
  title =	{{Algorithmic Foundations of Programmable Matter (Dagstuhl Seminar 23091)}},
  pages =	{183--198},
  journal =	{Dagstuhl Reports},
  ISSN =	{2192-5283},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{13},
  number =	{2},
  editor =	{Becker, Aaron and Fekete, S\'{a}ndor and Kostitsyna, Irina and Patitz, Matthew J. and Woods, Damien and Chatzigiannakis, Ioannis},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/DagRep.13.2.183},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-191848},
  doi =		{10.4230/DagRep.13.2.183},
  annote =	{Keywords: computational geometry, distributed algorithms, DNA computing, programmable matter, swarm robotics}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.29.1
Minimum Free Energy, Partition Function and Kinetics Simulation Algorithms for a Multistranded Scaffolded DNA Computer

Authors: Ahmed Shalaby, Chris Thachuk, and Damien Woods

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 276, 29th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 29) (2023)

Abstract
Polynomial time dynamic programming algorithms play a crucial role in the design, analysis and engineering of nucleic acid systems including DNA computers and DNA/RNA nanostructures. However, in complex multistranded or pseudoknotted systems, computing the minimum free energy (MFE), and partition function of nucleic acid systems is NP-hard. Despite this, multistranded and/or pseudoknotted systems represent some of the most utilised and successful systems in the field. This leaves open the tempting possibility that many of the kinds of multistranded and/or pseudoknotted systems we wish to engineer actually fall into restricted classes, that do in fact have polynomial time algorithms, but we've just not found them yet. Here, we give polynomial time algorithms for MFE and partition function calculation for a restricted kind of multistranded system called the 1D scaffolded DNA computer. This model of computation thermodynamically favours correct outputs over erroneous states, simulates finite state machines in 1D and Boolean circuits in 2D, and is amenable to DNA storage applications. In an effort to begin to ask the question of whether we can naturally compare the expressivity of nucleic acid systems based on the computational complexity of prediction of their preferred energetic states, we show our MFE problem is in logspace (the complexity class L), making it perhaps one of the simplest known, natural, nucleic acid MFE problems. Finally, we provide a stochastic kinetic simulator for the 1D scaffolded DNA computer and evaluate strategies for efficiently speeding up this thermodynamically favourable system in a constant-temperature kinetic regime.
Cite as

Ahmed Shalaby, Chris Thachuk, and Damien Woods. Minimum Free Energy, Partition Function and Kinetics Simulation Algorithms for a Multistranded Scaffolded DNA Computer. In 29th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 29). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 276, pp. 1:1-1:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{shalaby_et_al:LIPIcs.DNA.29.1,
  author =	{Shalaby, Ahmed and Thachuk, Chris and Woods, Damien},
  title =	{{Minimum Free Energy, Partition Function and Kinetics Simulation Algorithms for a Multistranded Scaffolded DNA Computer}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 29)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-297-6},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{276},
  editor =	{Chen, Ho-Lin and Evans, Constantine G.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.29.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-187840},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.29.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: thermodynamic computation, model of computation, molecular computing, minimum free energy, partition function, DNA computing, DNA self-assembly, DNA strand displacement, kinetics simulation}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.27.8
Small Tile Sets That Compute While Solving Mazes

Authors: Matthew Cook, Tristan Stérin, and Damien Woods

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 205, 27th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 27) (2021)

Abstract
We ask the question of how small a self-assembling set of tiles can be yet have interesting computational behaviour. We study this question in a model where supporting walls are provided as an input structure for tiles to grow along: we call it the Maze-Walking Tile Assembly Model. The model has a number of implementation prospects, one being DNA strands that attach to a DNA origami substrate. Intuitively, the model suggests a separation of signal routing and computation: the input structure (maze) supplies a routing diagram, and the programmer’s tile set provides the computational ability. We ask how simple the computational part can be. We give two tiny tile sets that are computationally universal in the Maze-Walking Tile Assembly Model. The first has four tiles and simulates Boolean circuits by directly implementing NAND, NXOR and NOT gates. Our second tile set has 6 tiles and is called the Collatz tile set as it produces patterns found in binary/ternary representations of iterations of the Collatz function. Using computer search we find that the Collatz tile set is expressive enough to encode Boolean circuits using blocks of these patterns. These two tile sets give two different methods to find simple universal tile sets, and provide motivation for using pre-assembled maze structures as circuit wiring diagrams in molecular self-assembly based computing.
Cite as

Matthew Cook, Tristan Stérin, and Damien Woods. Small Tile Sets That Compute While Solving Mazes. In 27th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 27). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 205, pp. 8:1-8:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{cook_et_al:LIPIcs.DNA.27.8,
  author =	{Cook, Matthew and St\'{e}rin, Tristan and Woods, Damien},
  title =	{{Small Tile Sets That Compute While Solving Mazes}},
  booktitle =	{27th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 27)},
  pages =	{8:1--8:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-205-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{205},
  editor =	{Lakin, Matthew R. and \v{S}ulc, Petr},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.27.8},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-146758},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.27.8},
  annote =	{Keywords: model of computation, self-assembly, small universal tile set, Boolean circuits, maze-solving}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.2020.11
Turning Machines

Authors: Irina Kostitsyna, Cai Wood, and Damien Woods

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 174, 26th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 26) (2020)

Abstract
Molecular robotics is challenging, so it seems best to keep it simple. We consider an abstract molecular robotics model based on simple folding instructions that execute asynchronously. Turning Machines are a simple 1D to 2D folding model, also easily generalisable to 2D to 3D folding. A Turning Machine starts out as a line of connected monomers in the discrete plane, each with an associated turning number. A monomer turns relative to its neighbours, executing a unit-distance translation that drags other monomers along with it, and through collective motion the initial set of monomers eventually folds into a programmed shape. We fully characterise the ability of Turning Machines to execute line rotations, and to do so efficiently: computing an almost-full line rotation of 5π/3 radians is possible, yet a full 2π rotation is impossible. We show that such line-rotations represent a fundamental primitive in the model, by using them to efficiently and asynchronously fold arbitrarily large zig-zag-rastered squares and y-monotone shapes.
Cite as

Irina Kostitsyna, Cai Wood, and Damien Woods. Turning Machines. In 26th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 26). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 174, pp. 11:1-11:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020)

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@InProceedings{kostitsyna_et_al:LIPIcs.DNA.2020.11,
  author =	{Kostitsyna, Irina and Wood, Cai and Woods, Damien},
  title =	{{Turning Machines}},
  booktitle =	{26th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming (DNA 26)},
  pages =	{11:1--11:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-163-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2020},
  volume =	{174},
  editor =	{Geary, Cody and Patitz, Matthew J.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.2020.11},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-129649},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.DNA.2020.11},
  annote =	{Keywords: model of computation, molecular robotics, self-assembly, nubot, reconfiguration}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2010.2461
Intrinsic Universality in Self-Assembly

Authors: David Doty, Jack H. Lutz, Matthew J. Patitz, Scott M. Summers, and Damien Woods

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 5, 27th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (2010)

Abstract
We show that the Tile Assembly Model exhibits a strong notion of universality where the goal is to give a single tile assembly system that simulates the behavior of any other tile assembly system. We give a tile assembly system that is capable of simulating a very wide class of tile systems, including itself. Specifically, we give a tile set that simulates the assembly of any tile assembly system in a class of systems that we call \emph{locally consistent}: each tile binds with exactly the strength needed to stay attached, and that there are no glue mismatches between tiles in any produced assembly. Our construction is reminiscent of the studies of \emph{intrinsic universality} of cellular automata by Ollinger and others, in the sense that our simulation of a tile system $T$ by a tile system $U$ represents each tile in an assembly produced by $T$ by a $c \times c$ block of tiles in $U$, where $c$ is a constant depending on $T$ but not on the size of the assembly $T$ produces (which may in fact be infinite). Also, our construction improves on earlier simulations of tile assembly systems by other tile assembly systems (in particular, those of Soloveichik and Winfree, and of Demaine et al.) in that we simulate the actual process of self-assembly, not just the end result, as in Soloveichik and Winfree's construction, and we do not discriminate against infinite structures. Both previous results simulate only temperature 1 systems, whereas our construction simulates tile assembly systems operating at temperature 2.
Cite as

David Doty, Jack H. Lutz, Matthew J. Patitz, Scott M. Summers, and Damien Woods. Intrinsic Universality in Self-Assembly. In 27th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science. Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 5, pp. 275-286, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2010)

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@InProceedings{doty_et_al:LIPIcs.STACS.2010.2461,
  author =	{Doty, David and Lutz, Jack H. and Patitz, Matthew J. and Summers, Scott M. and Woods, Damien},
  title =	{{Intrinsic Universality in Self-Assembly}},
  booktitle =	{27th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science},
  pages =	{275--286},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-16-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2010},
  volume =	{5},
  editor =	{Marion, Jean-Yves and Schwentick, Thomas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2010.2461},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-24619},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2010.2461},
  annote =	{Keywords: Biological computing, Molecular computation, intrinsic universality, self-assembly}
}
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