DMA Computing
Pratap Dev
Utkarsh Shah
Abstract
Molecular biologists are beginning to unravel the information-processing tools-such as enzymes, copying tools, proofreading mechanisms and so on-that evolution has spent billions of years refining. Now those tools are taken in large numbers of DNA molecules as biological computer processors. The power of DNA computing is that it can work in massively parallel fashion.
At a minimum, this research will shed a whole new light on the computing DNA does in living creatures. If the purpose of life is to process information stored in DNA, then in trying to perfect DNA computing, in a sense, we are trying to create life.
DNA computing has "very exciting possibilities" in the field of nanotechnology. Inside every cell are a number of molecules, including DNA, that operate as sophisticated machines. By learning how to physically control these molecular devices, researchers will be able to engineer devices more complicated and more efficient than current micro electromechanical systems. These biological micro machines could have a range of applications like correcting defects in cells, time-release medications, bolster organ function, or provide medical feedback.
