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DNA Computing

Behdad
November 30, 2012

DNA Computing

A brief introduction to DNA Computers

Behdad

November 30, 2012
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Transcript

  1. Overview Part 1: I hate history lessons: A brief history

    of computers. Part 2: I also hate biology: What is DNA? Part 3: DNA computers: Honestly, what is a DNA computer?
  2. Part 1: I hate history lessons A brief history of

    computers Or: “Can I play Call of Duty with an abacus?”
  3. A Brief History of Computers The very first computers didn’t

    have anything to do with electronic devices.
  4. Non-Electronic Computers Back in early 1800’s: Computers were like this:

    You see? It’s a loom*. It can’t be used to browse web. Jacquard loom A programmable loom *: A loom is a device used to weave cloth.
  5. Electro-mechanical Computers Early 1900’s: You might had to wait a

    week for your code to be compiled. There were a few of these computers back then! Computers were big, slow and expensive.
  6. Electronic Computers Back in 1950’s electronic computers were invented. First,

    using vacuum tubes. Still not able to play Call of Duty with them. [sigh]
  7. Just a Little Off-topic “Computers in the future may weigh

    no more than 1.5 tons.“ Popular Mechanics (1949) Close enough!
  8. Modern-day Computers Time passed by and by and IC’s came

    to existence. Computers were smaller and faster thanks to IC.
  9. Wait a Minute: Moore’s Law Special thanks to Mr. Gordon

    Moore for making this boring speech much shorter.
  10. Moore’s Law Moore's law is the observation that over the

    history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years. * *: Taken from Wikipedia
  11. I Didn’t Understand… What? Given Moore’s law, size of each

    transistor in an IC must be halved every two years. This cannot last forever. So: “Stop doing the same job everyday and be innovative.”
  12. Possible Solutions − Non-silicon technologies: − Optical computers − Quantum

    computers − Biological computers I have no idea what those might be!
  13. Part 2: I also hate biology What is DNA? Or:

    “DNA? Computers? راد بیش?!”
  14. So, What is DNA? DNA is a big big molecule

    which contains genetic code of organisms. It tells the cell what to do.
  15. What is DNA Made of? DNA is made of four

    types of nucleotide: • Adenine (A) • Thymine (T) • Cytosine (C) • Guanine (G)
  16. So what?! “A” makes a bond with “T”. “C” does

    with “G”. How a programmer sees that: !A = T !C = G It’s even better than 0/1 computers!
  17. Part 3: DNA computers Honestly, what is a DNA computer?

    Or: “I don’t care about all this DNA crap. Can I play Call of Duty with it or not?”
  18. Where it All Began? Late 1950’s, Richard Feynman published his

    famous paper about “sub- microscopic” computers.
  19. When it Came to Reality? With Leonard Adleman’s experiment in

    1994: He solved the “Hamiltonian Path” problem using existing DNA manipulation techniques.
  20. So, Now, What Is a DNA Computer? A DNA computer

    is basically a collection of specially selected DNA strands* whose combinations will result in the solution to some problem. *: an A-T or C-G bond
  21. Ok, Why Using a DNA One Instead of a Normal

    One? • Speed • 1014 operations per second • As fast as current supercomputers! • Energy Efficiency • 2 x 1019 operations per joule. • 109 times less than silicon computers! • Memory • 1 bit per cubic nanometer • 1012 times more than a videotape!
  22. What Makes it this Fast? A test tube contains approximately

    3 billions of DNA strands. An enzyme (an operator) can simultaneously act on all strands. So, DNA computing is more of parallel computing.
  23. Operations on DNA Strands • Synthesis • Mixing • Annealing

    • Melting • Amplifying (copying) • Separating • Extracting • Cutting • Ligating • Substituting • Marking • Destroying • Detecting & Reading
  24. Future of DNA Computers - When they’ll be available in

    my local computer store? - Maybe a few decades later. - What about Call of Duty? - You can still play it in your old- fashioned silicon computer.