Molecular Algorithms Using Reprogrammable DNA Self-assembly

摘要

The history of computing tells us that computers can be made of almost anything: silicon, gears and levers, neurons, flowing water, interacting particles or even light. Although lithographically patterned silicon surfaces have been by far the most successful of these, they give us a limited view of what computation is capable of. Algorithms typically control the flow of information by controlling the flow of electrons through digital-electronic devices, but in the field of molecular computing we imagine algorithms that control matter itself.This talk will be about DNA molecules that interact with each other in a test tube to execute algorithms. We will show how DNA can be re-engineered to act not only as an information encoding polymer (as it is in biology) but also as a computational primitive for executing somewhat soggy computer programs. The talk will showcase some of our wet-lab results on implementing 21 different algorithms using self-assembling DNA strands |1]. We will also see how tools from the theory of computation can help us understand what kinds of computations molecules are capable of.[1] Woods*, Doty*. Myhrvold, Hui, Zhou, Yin, Winfree. Diverse and robust molecular algorithms using reprogrammable DNA self-assembly. Nature 567:366-372. 2019. *Joint lead co-authors.