Synthetic Cells Protect DNA Circuits

March 6, 2019

(Chemical & Engineering News) – Molecular computer systems that rely on strands of DNA to process information can already solve math problems, play games like tic-tac-toe, and detect the biochemical signatures of disease. Now researchers have used artificial cells to host DNA-based circuits, allowing them to operate in messy biological environments (Nature Nanotech. 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41565-019-0399-9). It’s a step on the way to using DNA computers as rapid diagnostic devices, or even to control systems that deliver therapeutic drugs inside patients, says Tom de Greef of the Eindhoven University of Technology, part of the team behind the work.