Harvard, Princeton researchers developing implantable "biocomputers"

Researchers at Harvard and Princeton have announced that they've made a "crucial step" in the development of so-called "biocomputers," which could one day be implanted in patients to directly attack diseased cells or tissues Fantastic Voyage-style. According to Physorg, the computers are actually constructed entirely out of DNA, RNA, and proteins, and are able to translate complex cellular signatures like the activities of multiple genes into a form that can be more readily observed. Currently, the researchers have demonstrated that the biocomputers can work in human kidney cells in culture, although they seem confident that they'll eventually find a wind range of uses, including working in conjunction with biosensors or medicine delivery systems to target, for instance, only cancerous or diseased cells, without causing any harm to the patient's healthy cells.

[Ismael @ May 21st 2007 5:18PM]

Amazing! Thank you for the news mate :)

[Richard Lai @ May 21st 2007 5:38PM]

Damn, I thought we have finally come to the stage where we can calculate pi to a thousand places in our head.

[Paul @ May 21st 2007 5:52PM]

god bless america

[Peter Harrington @ May 21st 2007 6:02PM]

Paul: ***Science*** Bless America -- when was the last time a Man of God cured cancer (or a pimple, for that matter)?

[Mr. Picklesworth @ May 21st 2007 5:58PM]

"All that must be provided is a genetic blueprint of the machine and our own biology will do the rest. Your cells will literally build these biocomputers for you."

Hey kids, I'm a computer!

[Mike @ May 21st 2007 8:23PM]

STOP ALL THE DOWNLOADIN

[Lex @ May 22nd 2007 12:04AM]

*SNAP*

[LongshotX @ May 21st 2007 9:24PM]

Why is it so hard for you to believe in God? I'm an environmental scientist and everywhere I look I see the delicate intricacies of life, how everything on Earth appears to be made to such an exacting degree that any slight deviation could have caused life not to exist. I see God in nature, in time, in ourselves (we were created in the image of God, not to be Gods but to be extensions of God: his people), even in evolution (yes I said it). Why can you not see the connections. Science and God can be one after all he was the greatest scientists: he who created time, he who wrote all the unifying laws of physics, the first geneticist, the first biologist, the first botanist, the first ecologist, etc. Don't be blind. Keep an open mind.

[jarofchris @ May 21st 2007 11:00PM]

Peter, science can only do ultimately trivial things, like cure pimples or cure cancer (and by the way, it doesn't even do either of those things vey well--and that's being charitable). In the medical field I work with both scientists and chaplains, and thus I am very much aware that men of God can do deeper things that science will never do, like help people find meaning in their lives or experience true inner peace, and bring comfort to the dying.

[DorianGray @ May 22nd 2007 8:54AM]

@Peter Harrington

"To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan, scientist

[Ron Smith @ May 21st 2007 6:30PM]

Next stop, get porn and linux setup. Go at it!

[EDomain @ May 21st 2007 6:34PM]

This is awesome news!

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

[Renu @ May 21st 2007 7:24PM]

hmmm, this sounds a lot like the work of shapiro, which is already 3 years old.
Only thing new is that they apparently found a way to get it intracellular. Shapiro only worked in a crude cell extract...

[LongshotX @ May 21st 2007 9:16PM]

Do they use protoculture?

[aion @ May 21st 2007 9:28PM]

these devices, or devices similar to these, are going to be one of the main keys to indefinite life extension. If your lucky enough and healthy/young enough, you may be among the first humans to never die. http://www.imminst.org/

[illicit @ May 21st 2007 11:57PM]

@Longshotx

"everything on Earth appears to be made to such an exacting degree that any slight deviation could have caused life not to exist" - see: natural selection.

Dude thing about it, these "unifying laws of physics" state that the universe is infinite, so eventually now and then there will be planets like Earth that can support life, thats probability. The simple fact is that there is no proof either way, and I doubt that there ever will be, or that any amount of evidence would convince most people to change their minds.

"Don't be blind. Keep an open mind." A very good suggestion that works both ways.