[extropy-chat] DNA may hold key to information processing and data storage

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

The DNA molecule--nature's premier data storage material--may hold the
key for the information technology industry as it faces demands for
more compact data processing and storage circuitry. A team led by
Richard Kiehl, a professor of electrical engineering at the University
of Minnesota, has used DNA's ability to assemble itself into
predetermined patterns to construct a synthetic DNA scaffolding with
regular, closely spaced docking sites that can direct the assembly of
circuits for processing or storing data. The scaffolding has the
potential to self-assemble components 1,000 times as densely as the
best information processing circuitry and 100 times the best data
storage circuitry now in the pipeline. Members of the team first
published their innovation in 2003, and they have now refined the
technique to allow more efficient and more versatile assembly of
components. The new work, which was a collaborative effort with
chemistry professors Karin Musier-Forsyth and T. Andrew Taton at
Minnesota and Nadrian C. Seeman at New York University, is reported in
the December issue of Nano Letters, a publication of the American
Chemical Society.
http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=1411