Reuters reports that Israeli scientists have programmed a biomolecular computer to successfully detect and treat cancer cells (in a test-tube).
Shapiro's DNA computer is a molecular model of one of the simplest computing machines -- the automaton, which can answer certain yes or no questions.
It uses enzymes, which manipulate DNA, as the computer's hardware. The computer is preprogrammed with medical information and detects markers, or concentrations of certain molecules of RNA (a cousin of DNA) which are overproduced or underproduced to detect the cancer. If the markers signify a disease, the output releases a molecule similar to an anti-cancer drug to destroy the cancerous cells.
The full story is available here.
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