{"id":89615,"date":"2019-04-17T02:42:21","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T09:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/a-biosynthetic-dual-core-cell-computer"},"modified":"2019-04-17T02:42:21","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T09:42:21","slug":"a-biosynthetic-dual-core-cell-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/a-biosynthetic-dual-core-cell-computer","title":{"rendered":"A biosynthetic dual-core cell computer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/a-biosynthetic-dual-core-cell-computer.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>ETH researchers have integrated two CRISPR-Cas9-based core processors into human cells. This represents a huge step towards creating powerful biocomputers.<\/p>\n<p>Controlling <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/gene+expression\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">gene expression<\/a> through gene switches based on a model borrowed from the digital world has long been one of the primary objectives of synthetic biology. The digital technique uses what are known as logic gates to process <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/input+signals\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">input signals<\/a>, creating circuits where, for example, output signal C is produced only when input signals A and B are simultaneously present.<\/p>\n<p>To date, biotechnologists had attempted to build such digital circuits with the help of protein gene switches in <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/cells\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">cells<\/a>. However, these had some serious disadvantages: they were not very flexible, could accept only simple programming, and were capable of processing just one input at a time, such as a specific metabolic molecule. More complex computational processes in cells are thus possible only under certain conditions, are unreliable, and frequently fail.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2019-04-biosynthetic-dual-core-cell.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;\">Read more<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ETH researchers have integrated two CRISPR-Cas9-based core processors into human cells. This represents a huge step towards creating powerful biocomputers. Controlling gene expression through gene switches based on a model borrowed from the digital world has long been one of the primary objectives of synthetic biology. The digital technique uses what are known as logic [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":388,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1902,11,1523],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bioengineering","category-biotech-medical","category-computing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/388"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}