Biomolecular computer travels inside the body to detect multiple disease symptoms

Recent innovations in biomolecular computing technology have led a team of researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, to create a new biomolecular computer. This unique device will have the ability to survive and function efficiently in a biological environment. The detailed study was recently published in the medical journal Nano Letters.

Biomolecular computers

Researchers believe that the new biomolecular computer will help detect diseases and release therapeutic biomolecules in the system to treat the same. According to Professor Ehud Shapiro, this computer will herald a future as it is equipped with an exhaustive biomedical library of diseases and suitable treatment. Co-author Binyamin Gil says that researchers intend to release the nano meter sized device to roam freely inside human bodies and detect ailments in initial stages.

This biomolecular computer is a living computational device as the logic circuits are constructed using oligonucleotides. The circuits function just as an electronic computer, with the added advantage of being set up in living cells. The biomolecular computer can be released into the bloodstream using an organ or a tissue.

The research is an outcome of the ongoing efforts in biomolecular computing technology. Earlier, scientists had demonstrated the functioning of a biomolecular computer made of DNA and a restriction enzyme. It was successfully tested in an artificial environment. The system checks the body for all the disease indicators, if it finds that they exist, then the computation ends in a ‘yes state’. Initially the biomolecular computer could detect disease indicators from the mRNA. Post the latest innovation, the new computer will be able to detect ailment symptoms from ATP and miRNA also.

Scientists strongly feel that the system will work effectively if the computational device can sense a set of disease causing factors instead of just one symptom. Then the diagnosis will be accurate and the therapy more effective. To illustrate the point, researcher Gil uses the example of thyroid cancer. If the device senses the presence of just thyroglobulin in the system then the chances of the individual being diagnosed with the disease is much less than if the computer detects a combination of calcitonin and thyroglobulin together.

Innovations in the field of biomolecular computers and programmable drugs is set to change the face of diagnostic and therapeutic science. Scientists have tested these systems in-vitro and are working towards making these systems work effectively inside human bodies.

Via: Physorg