The present invention relates to the newly identified timerization initiating and stagger determining capacity of the NC2 domain of collagen IX. The invention further relates to a hexavalent molecular building block wherein the linkage of additional moieties to the amino and carboxyl terminals of monomers comprising the NC2 domain of collagen IX promotes the directed association of those moieties via the trimerization initiating and stagger determining capacity of the NC2 domain of collagen IX.
