Microfluidic processor brings us one step closer to a future of squishy DNA computing
(2021/09/15)
- Reference: 1631733783
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/09/15/microfluidic_processor/
- Source link:
Boffins at the Incheon National University have made what they claim to be a breakthrough in computing: a programmable processor which uses DNA, rather than electronics, to perform its computation.
The Microfluidic Processing Unit (MPU) developed by the team is, it claimed, a step forward in simplifying DNA computing – a process which has traditionally required laborious mixing of DNA strands into a reaction tube by hand. The MPU, by contrast, does everything automatically and programmatically – controlled via a traditional PC or smartphone.
Using a prototype produced via 3D printing, the researchers were able to demonstrate how DNA computing can be used for complex mathematical operations via Boolean logic – turning single-stranded DNA templates into logic gates which pair to input DNA with complementary Watson-Crick sequences and produce an output DNA, the length of which offers a binary true-or-false result.
[1]
The prototype MPU is, admittedly, basic, offering only AND, OR, XOR, and NOT operations and requiring a traditional computer to drive it – but the team is confident it has potential, predicting that the MPU will "facilitate the development of complex functional circuits such as arithmetic logical units and neuromorphic circuits."
[2]
[3]
"Our hope is that DNA-based CPUs will replace electronic CPUs in the future," Youngjun Song PhD, assistant professor at INU and the paper's corresponding author, claimed in a [4]statement provided by the university, "because they consume less power, which will help with global warming.
"DNA-based CPUs also provide a platform for complex calculations like deep learning solutions and mathematical modelling."
[5]Quantum transistors at room temp
[6]Is this the silicon chip KILLER? Boffins boot up carbon-nanotube CPU
[7]Intel eggheads put bits in a spin to try to revive Moore's law
[8]Boffins eschew silicon to build tiniest-ever transistor, just 1nm long
[9]Much more Moore's Law: Wonder-stuff graphene transistor trickery
[10]Moore's Law is deader than corduroy bell bottoms. But with a bit of smart coding it's not the end of the road
With [11]Moore's Law distinctly unwell as the laws of physics and economics bite ever-shrinking feature sizes hard, there's considerable interest in finding alternative ways to build processors. DNA might be one of the more outré solutions, but there are plenty more: [12]room-temperature quantum transistors , [13]carbon nanotubes , [14]magneto-electric spin-orbit (MESO) chips , [15]molybdenum disulphide or [16]graphene-based transistors, or simply [17]better programming techniques rather than new hardware as a means of boosting performance.
The INU team isn't the only one looking at DNA as the material to drive forward a new computing revolution, either: Microsoft and the University of Washington showed off [18]DNA-based digital storage back in 2016, writing 200MB of data to strands of encapsulated synthetic DNA – good, the company claimed, for 2,000 years at 10°C or "millions" if chilled down to -18°C. The technology, in no way inspired by the 1981 William Gibson short story and 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic , has not yet made it to market.
[19]
There's a long road ahead before any of the aforementioned technologies, including DNA-based computing, can hope to offer true competition to the humble silicon chip. "We have presented a proof of concept for basic logic gate operation and DNA computing via the DNA-based MPU chip, albeit with limited functionality," the team admitted in the paper's conclusion.
Despite this, Song and colleagues remain confident in the technology's potential. "Future research will focus on a total DNA computing solution," he claimed, "with DNA algorithms and DNA storage systems."
The team's work has been published in the journal [20]ACS Nano under closed-access terms. No roadmap has been provided for commercialisation. ®
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[4] https://www.inu.ac.kr/user/boardList.do?command=view&page=1&boardId=555310&boardSeq=646048&id=inueng_050700000000&NewIpsi=&NewEng=&NewComm=&NewEngEn=&NewCommEn=&NewSugi=&NewTriv=&categoryDepth=0005
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/24/quantum_transistors_at_room_temp/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2013/09/26/stanford_boffins_build_carbon_nanotune_computer/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/04/chipzilla_puts_bits_in_a_spin_to_try_and_revive_moores_law/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2016/10/10/boffins_eschew_silicon_to_build_tiniestever_transistor_just_1nm_long/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/11/scientists_grow_atomically_thick_transistors_on_graphene/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/moores_law_coding/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/05/moores_law_what_next/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/24/quantum_transistors_at_room_temp/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2013/09/26/stanford_boffins_build_carbon_nanotune_computer/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/04/chipzilla_puts_bits_in_a_spin_to_try_and_revive_moores_law/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2016/10/10/boffins_eschew_silicon_to_build_tiniestever_transistor_just_1nm_long/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/11/scientists_grow_atomically_thick_transistors_on_graphene/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/moores_law_coding/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/07/microsoft_dna_storage/
[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YUJtIsS39eZwnEKWa66VdgAAAYM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[20] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.1c02153
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Microfluidic Processing Unit (MPU) developed by the team is, it claimed, a step forward in simplifying DNA computing – a process which has traditionally required laborious mixing of DNA strands into a reaction tube by hand. The MPU, by contrast, does everything automatically and programmatically – controlled via a traditional PC or smartphone.
Using a prototype produced via 3D printing, the researchers were able to demonstrate how DNA computing can be used for complex mathematical operations via Boolean logic – turning single-stranded DNA templates into logic gates which pair to input DNA with complementary Watson-Crick sequences and produce an output DNA, the length of which offers a binary true-or-false result.
[1]
The prototype MPU is, admittedly, basic, offering only AND, OR, XOR, and NOT operations and requiring a traditional computer to drive it – but the team is confident it has potential, predicting that the MPU will "facilitate the development of complex functional circuits such as arithmetic logical units and neuromorphic circuits."
[2]
[3]
"Our hope is that DNA-based CPUs will replace electronic CPUs in the future," Youngjun Song PhD, assistant professor at INU and the paper's corresponding author, claimed in a [4]statement provided by the university, "because they consume less power, which will help with global warming.
"DNA-based CPUs also provide a platform for complex calculations like deep learning solutions and mathematical modelling."
[5]Quantum transistors at room temp
[6]Is this the silicon chip KILLER? Boffins boot up carbon-nanotube CPU
[7]Intel eggheads put bits in a spin to try to revive Moore's law
[8]Boffins eschew silicon to build tiniest-ever transistor, just 1nm long
[9]Much more Moore's Law: Wonder-stuff graphene transistor trickery
[10]Moore's Law is deader than corduroy bell bottoms. But with a bit of smart coding it's not the end of the road
With [11]Moore's Law distinctly unwell as the laws of physics and economics bite ever-shrinking feature sizes hard, there's considerable interest in finding alternative ways to build processors. DNA might be one of the more outré solutions, but there are plenty more: [12]room-temperature quantum transistors , [13]carbon nanotubes , [14]magneto-electric spin-orbit (MESO) chips , [15]molybdenum disulphide or [16]graphene-based transistors, or simply [17]better programming techniques rather than new hardware as a means of boosting performance.
The INU team isn't the only one looking at DNA as the material to drive forward a new computing revolution, either: Microsoft and the University of Washington showed off [18]DNA-based digital storage back in 2016, writing 200MB of data to strands of encapsulated synthetic DNA – good, the company claimed, for 2,000 years at 10°C or "millions" if chilled down to -18°C. The technology, in no way inspired by the 1981 William Gibson short story and 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic , has not yet made it to market.
[19]
There's a long road ahead before any of the aforementioned technologies, including DNA-based computing, can hope to offer true competition to the humble silicon chip. "We have presented a proof of concept for basic logic gate operation and DNA computing via the DNA-based MPU chip, albeit with limited functionality," the team admitted in the paper's conclusion.
Despite this, Song and colleagues remain confident in the technology's potential. "Future research will focus on a total DNA computing solution," he claimed, "with DNA algorithms and DNA storage systems."
The team's work has been published in the journal [20]ACS Nano under closed-access terms. No roadmap has been provided for commercialisation. ®
Get our [21]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YUJtIsS39eZwnEKWa66VdgAAAYM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.inu.ac.kr/user/boardList.do?command=view&page=1&boardId=555310&boardSeq=646048&id=inueng_050700000000&NewIpsi=&NewEng=&NewComm=&NewEngEn=&NewCommEn=&NewSugi=&NewTriv=&categoryDepth=0005
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/24/quantum_transistors_at_room_temp/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2013/09/26/stanford_boffins_build_carbon_nanotune_computer/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/04/chipzilla_puts_bits_in_a_spin_to_try_and_revive_moores_law/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2016/10/10/boffins_eschew_silicon_to_build_tiniestever_transistor_just_1nm_long/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/11/scientists_grow_atomically_thick_transistors_on_graphene/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/moores_law_coding/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/05/moores_law_what_next/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2013/06/24/quantum_transistors_at_room_temp/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2013/09/26/stanford_boffins_build_carbon_nanotune_computer/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/04/chipzilla_puts_bits_in_a_spin_to_try_and_revive_moores_law/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2016/10/10/boffins_eschew_silicon_to_build_tiniestever_transistor_just_1nm_long/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/11/scientists_grow_atomically_thick_transistors_on_graphene/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/05/moores_law_coding/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/07/microsoft_dna_storage/
[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YUJtIsS39eZwnEKWa66VdgAAAYM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[20] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.1c02153
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Better programing technicques...
Someone Else
Would that include relegating javascript to the dustbin of history?
Doctor Syntax
It has to be a disadvantage if a single bug can eat your entire computer.
Better programing technicques...
well there's a thought! :-D