Biomedical subjects

P W Rothemund

Publications and source records attributed to P W Rothemund.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Using lateral capillary forces to compute by self-assembly.

Investigations of DNA computing have highlighted a fundamental connection between self-assembly (SA) and computation: in principle, any computation can be performed by a suitable self-assembling system. In practice, exploration of this connection is limited by our ability to control the geometry and specificity of binding interactions. Recently, a system has been developed that uses surface tension to assemble plastic tiles according to shape complementarity and likeness of wetting [Bowden, N., Terfort, A., Carbeck, J. & Whitesides, G. M. (1997) Science 276, 233-235]. Here the capacity of this system to compute by SA is explored. Tiles were prepared to test the system's ability to generate three structures of increasing complexity: a periodic checkerboard tiling, an aperiodic Penrose tiling, and a computational tiling that simulates a one-dimensional cellular automaton. Matching rules for these tilings were enforced by coating tiles with patterns of hydrophobic and hydrophilic patches or wetting codes. Energetic, kinetic, and mechanistic details of SA explain differences between experimental structures and mathematically ideal ones. In particular, the growth mechanism observed appears incompatible with computations that make use of a chosen input.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

On applying molecular computation to the data encryption standard.

Recently, Boneh, Dunworth, and Lipton (1996) described the potential use of molecular computation in attacking the United States Data Encryption Standard (DES). Here, we provide a description of such an attack using the sticker model of molecular computation. Our analysis suggests that such an attack might be mounted on a tabletop machine using approximately a gram of DNA and might succeed even in the presence of a large number of errors.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1998

A sticker-based model for DNA computation.

We introduce a new model of molecular computation that we call the sticker model. Like many previous proposals it makes use of DNA strands as the physical substrate in which information is represented and of separation by hybridization as a central mechanism. However, unlike previous models, the stickers model has a random access memory that requires no strand extension and uses no enzymes; also (at least in theory), its materials are reusable. The paper describes computation under the stickers model and discusses possible means for physically implementing each operation. Finally, we go on to propose a specific machine architecture for implementing the stickers model as a microprocessor-controlled parallel robotic workstation. In the course of this development a number of previous general concerns about molecular computation (Smith, 1996; Hartmanis, 1995; Linial et al., 1995) are addressed. First, it is clear that general-purpose algorithms can be implemented by DNA-based computers, potentially solving a wide class of search problems. Second, we find that there are challenging problems, for which only modest volumes of DNA should suffice. Third, we demonstrate that the formation and breaking of covalent bonds is not intrinsic to DNA-based computation. Fourth, we show that a single essential biotechnology, sequence-specific separation, suffices for constructing a general-purpose molecular computer. Concerns about errors in this separation operation and means to reduce them are addressed elsewhere (Karp et al., 1995; Roweis and Winfree, 1999). Despite these encouraging theoretical advances, we emphasize that substantial engineering challenges remain at almost all stages and that the ultimate success or failure of DNA computing will certainly depend on whether these challenges can be met in laboratory investigations.

Computer Simulation↗