I recently read "Engines of Creation" which gave me some ideas. I am a geneticist and I would be interested in identifying genes which code for natural 'assemblers' ie. shellfish genes which put together their shells or other exoskeleton producing genes. Such research would have intuitively obvious implications to NT and material science. Is anyone aware of ongoing research of this kind ? I already know of similar projects investigating the production of spider webs, mollusk glue and egg shells.