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Drexler has stated one possible way to get to nanotech is to use proteins which have been picked to fold down to the particular shapes needed to be tools to eventually get to an assembler. Using bio techniques is attractive because

1. we know that bio methods work because we know that life can produce nano scale machines that work (ribosomes)
2. we have the technology to edit and splice DNA/RNA to instruct cells to produce proteins
3. there is precedence for nano scale machines that work mechanically (like flagella motors for Eugena that actually rotate at high rpm)
4. etc.. once you have bio generated nano, you could possibly use it to make non-bio nanotech which would use stronger materials (diamondoid materials, carbyne, diamond...) which has it's own advantages.

I don't know if this has been covered but it occured to me that one possible way to reduce the risk of uncontrolled growth of bio-style nanotech would be to design it to only use right-handed amino acids. Life on earth only uses left-handed aminos so it would seem to me that the biosphere would be very poor in the right handed version amino acids. This would make rampant growth of bio assemblers outside of labs and factories unlikely where technicians would purposely supply RH aminos. This would be such a fundamental limitation in the design that it would be unlikely that a random defect would allow for the use of LH aminos to make proteins. Or at least I see this as a possibility.

ms

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