Team develops `living computer`
Team develops `living computer`
2008-10-17Newsfeed
Scientists are developing living computers made of a DNA-related molecule that may one day be used inside human cells.
Scientists are developing living computers made of a DNA-related molecule that may one day be used inside human cells.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have created the living computer from RNA and made it work from within a living yeast cell.
Future models could be used to run calculations inside human cells, to release drugs or ready the immune system at the first hint of illness.
DNA shares features with computers, such as storing, processing and communicating information and in the late 1990s, researchers created a set of DNA molecules that could solve simple maths problems.
The strength of such molecular devices is that they can work inside biological systems, where DNA has evolved to be at home.
Now researchers Maung Nyan Win and Christina Smolke have developed RNA computers that take that concept further, acting as a logic gate - the basis of electronic computing.
Their device, made up of three RNA sequences, processes input signals in the form of natural cell proteins and produces an output in the form of green fluorescent protein.
The team hopes that with further work a system could be developed which releases hormones or drugs to fight the onset of disease.
Copyright © The Press Association 2008
