Such materials may self-assemble e.g. into hierarchically organized structures as proposed by Dan Morse, UCSB, in his biomineralization system that consists of many proteins and calcium. Use a self-reproducing liposome as devised by Luigi Luisi's group at ETHZ as a vehicle for evolving e.g. highly specific transport properties via a combinatoric library of channel proteins. Conceptually, this can be done by coupling the self-reproducing ability of the liposome directly with the ability for a certain agent to enter the liposome. A practical application could be designed for evolving highly effective separation membranes. A variation on this system could serve as a design for a generic biodivice.
Many enzyme functionalities are very sensitive to salts, pH, surfaces, etc.
The reactants and products may, however, more easily be transported and stored under different conditions. An example of a product could be a set of proteins that can self-assemble into a desirable material. Different conditions can exist in its environment. Such a process can be cycled and a large population of biodivices can be produced, eventually coated and attached to an inorganic matrix so that macroscopic amounts of products can be made. In general the experiments lead the way since most of these systems are too complex to handle within any given formal framework.