Scientists from Stanford University may have just developed the next big leap in computing component technology. Taking cues from nature, the team of bioengineers have created a biological transistor composed of genetic material, and it might be the last major step needed before tackling in-cell computing.
"Biological computers can be used to study and reprogram living systems, monitor environments and improve cellular therapeutics," said senior author of the paper, Drew Endy.
Called the "transcriptor" by the researchers, the technology takes advantage of DNA and RNA instead of electrons, as current computers do.
The transcriptors allow for digital control over the protein RNA polymerase and play an important role in creating logic gates that can give out true-or-false answers. This, in turn, helps create a boolean environment, and the scientists refer to the logic gates as "Boolean Integrase Logic" or "BIL."
The BILs are the last major piece of the puzzle needed to create a functional biological computer that could be placed inside cells. They perform the logical computing; the other two actions required are storing and transmitting that information. Endy and his team have already delivered on the other two fronts with rewritable DNA storage and a kind of cellular Internet system.
The potential uses? Well, for starters the medical uses are numerous, from disease fighting to disease prevention, they could be an early warning system and could even be used to regulate certain cellular functions to help combat conditions like diabetes and cancer. They're still years away from being implemented into the general public, but either way, computing seems to be trying to take its next big step - from gears, to vacuum and electricity, and now to au naturel.
You can read the full published study in the journal Science.
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