DNA computing

DNA computing is an emerging branch of unconventional computing which uses DNA, biochemistry, and molecular biology hardware, instead of the traditional electronic computing. Research and development in this area concerns theory, experiments, and applications of DNA computing. Although the field originally started with the demonstration of a computing application by Len Adleman in 1994, it has now been expanded to several other avenues such as the development of storage technologies, nanoscale imaging modalities, synthetic controllers and reaction networks, etc. Leonard Adleman of the University of Southern California initially developed this field in 1994. Adleman demonstrated a proof-of-concept use of DNA as a form of computation which solved the seven-point Hamiltonian path problem. Since the initial Adleman experiments, advances have occurred and various Turing machines have been proven to be constructible. Since then the field has expanded into several avenues. In 1995, the idea for DNA-based memory was proposed by Eric Baum who conjectured that a vast amount of data can be stored in a tiny amount of DNA due to its ultra-high density. This expanded the horizon of DNA computing into the realm of memory technology although the in vitro demonstrations were made almost after a decade. The field of DNA computing can be categorized as a sub-field of the broader DNA nanoscience field started by Ned Seeman about a decade before Len Adleman's demonstration. Ned's original idea in the 1980s was to build arbitrary structures using bottom-up DNA self-assembly for applications in crystallography. However, it morphed into the field of structural DNA self-assembly which as of 2020 is extremely sophisticated. Self-assembled structure from a few nanometers tall all the way up to several tens of micrometers in size have been demonstrated in 2018. In 1994, Prof. Seeman's group demonstrated early DNA lattice structures using a small set of DNA components.