Systems Seminar
DNA Computations on Surfaces
Prof. Lloyd M. Smith
UW Department of Chemistry
Abstract
The field of DNA computing was initiated in 1994 by Adleman,
who proposed that the tools of molecular biology could be used to
solve instances of difficult mathematical problems known as
NP-complete problems, and demonstrated the principle experimentally
in a small demonstration experiment. This work generated
considerable excitement in the computer science community as an
actual implementation of the concept of "molecular computing," with
potential to provide a completely new paradigm for high-performance
computation. However, the particular experimental implementation
employed by Adleman did not scale well to larger problems, due to a
variety of practical issues in the chemistry. To address this
problem we established several years ago a collaborative effort
between the research groups of Professor Anne Condon of the UW
Department of Computer Science, Professors Rob Corn and Lloyd Smith
of the UW Department of Chemistry, and Professor Max Lagally of the
UW Department of Materials Science and Engineering. This
collaborative effort has as its focus the development of a
surface-based implementation of the DNA computing process. The use
of a solid support permits the DNA molecules to be easily purified at
every step of the DNA computing process, greatly facilitating
scale-up to the solution of larger problems. In this talk the basic
principles of DNA computing will be presented, as well as the novel
chemistries and enzymologies that have been developed for
implementation of the project.
Time and Place: Wed., Oct. 30, at 3:30 in 1227 Engr. Hall.
*** NOTE DIFFERENT ROOM ***
SYSTEMS SEMINAR WEB PAGE:
http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~gubner/seminar/