14 DAY TRIAL // Computers have come a long way since the 19th century, sometimes making huge leaps rather than slowly advancing. Such a huge leap has just been accomplished, or soon will be made based on a new breakthrough in bioengineering.
Bioengineering is the science that seeks to take computing beyond mechanics and into the realm of biology.
We are talking about actual living tissue performing calculations, rather than a supercomputer trying (and mostly failing) to imitate how the human brain works.
As it happens, a team of scientists from Standford University believe they have cracked the mystery by inventing the biological version of transistors.
“Transcriptors are the key component behind amplifying genetic logic - akin to the transistor and electronics,” said Jerome Bonnet, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in bioengineering and the lead author of a paper published yesterday (March 28).
Said paper described a biological transistor made from DNA and ARN (genetic material), and which can be used instead of electrons or gears.
The transistor is called a “transcriptor” and can compute inside living cells, recording when cells are exposed to external stimuli, turning off cell reproduction of needed, etc.
In electronics, transistors control the flow of electrons along a circuit. The transcriptor controls the flow of a specific protein as it travels along a strand of DNA: RNA polymerase.
“Biological computers can be used to study and reprogram living systems, monitor environments and improve cellular therapeutics,” said Drew Endy, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering and the paper’s senior author.
The research will take a long time to implement in a way that can help science and medicine, but the Stanford team has succeeded in creating “logic gates” that can answer basically any biochemical question that needs true-false answers.
“Logic gates” is the electronics term though. The bioengineering equivalents are dubbed “Boolean Integrase Logic,” or “BIL gates” for short. More coverage here.