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Fifty years after the discovery of the structure of DNA, a Weizmann team has found a new use for this celebrated molecule – as fuel for molecular computation systems. They have developed a device – an improvement upon a molecular computing device reported by the team around a year ago – in which a single DNA molecule provides the computer with input data as well as all the necessary fuel. A spoonful (5 milliliters) of solution can contain 15,000 trillion such computers. The new device was awarded the Guinness World Record for “smallest biological computing device.”
The study was carried out by Prof. Ehud Shapiro, Prof. Zvi Livneh, Yaakov Benenson, Dr. Rivka Adar and Dr. Tamar Paz-Elizur of the Institute’s Biological Chemistry Department and the Computer Science and Applied Mathematics Department.
Prof. Ehud Shapiro’s research is supported by the Samuel R. Dweck Foundation; the Dolfi and Lola Ebner Center for Biomedical Research; the Benjamin and Seema Pulier Charitable Foundation; the Robert Rees Fund for Applied Research; and Yad Hanadiv.
Prof. Zvi Livneh is the incumbent of the Maxwell Ellis Professorial Chair in Biomedical Research. His research is supported by the Dolfi and Lola Ebner Center for Biomedical Research; the Levine Institute of Applied Science; the Dr. Josef Cohn Minerva Center for Biomembrane Research; and the M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer Research.
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