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DNA Computer Detects, Treats Disease
Arthur Dent '99 writes "According to this article at Reuters, Israeli scientists at the Weizmann Institute have developed a DNA computer which can automatically detect and treat prostate cancer and a form of lung cancer in laboratory experiments. Theoretically, a person could be injected with this computer, and it would detect and treat any diseased cells at the earliest stages of development, perhaps preventing the disease altogether."
Watch where you put that robot arm prostate cancer-curing computer.
...what happens if the computer gets a virus?
Would be a bit hard to swallow. I hope it's at least one of those small form factor [i.e. shuttle PC] designs.
But wouldn't this make the concept of a computer virus horrifying?
Thats quite a step up from "Hello World!"
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
...developed a DNA computer which can automatically detect and treat prostate cancer
That computer had damn well be running a stable version of Linux if it is operating on/near/in my colon!
Somehow knowing that a Windows machine could give me the "brown screen of death" doesn't sit easy with me!
...That the doctor doesn't have to shove his finger up my ass to check my prostate anymore?
Sure it sounds great now to inject someone with the self correcting units, but what happens when they start to replicate out of control? introduce tiny snakes to eat them?
Is Dennis Quaid driving it?
---
There's a fine line between courage and foolishness. Too bad it's not a fence.
"That DNA computer you gave me got a virus."
Doctor says, "How do you know?"
"Because I have this obsession to mail everybody I know a vile spit... Here's a letter."
i for one, welcome our new closed source gene modifying software overlords
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have come a step closer to creating a minuscule DNA computer that may one day be able to spot diseases like cancer from inside the body and release a drug to treat it.
Professor Ehud Shapiro and researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute constructed the world's smallest biomolecular computer a few years ago.
Now they have programmed it to analyse biological information to detect and treat prostate cancer and a form of lung cancer in laboratory experiments.
"We've taken our earlier molecular computer and augmented it with an input and output module. Together the computer can diagnose a disease and in response produce a drug for the disease in a test tube," Shapiro told Reuters.
The microscopic computer is so minuscule a trillion could fit in a drop of water. Its input, output and software are made up of DNA molecules -- which store and process encoded information about living organisms.
"Our work represents the first actual proof of concept and the first actual demonstration of a possible real-life application for this kind of computer," Shapiro added.
DIAGNOSING CANCER WITHIN THE CELL
The findings, which are published online by the science journal Nature and were presented at a symposium in Brussels, Belgium, could transform how diseases like cancer are treated in the future.
Instead of biopsies to remove cancerous tissue, which then must be analysed in the laboratory. The DNA computer could potentially diagnose the disease within the tissue in the body.
"Our medical computer might one day be administered as a drug, and be distributed throughout the body by the bloodstream to detect disease markers autonomously and independently in every cell," said Shapiro.
It could enable doctors to treat cancer in its earliest stages before tumours have formed and to deliver drugs to hard-to-reach cells if the disease has spread to other parts of the body.
Different inputs could be used to detect other diseases.
"It could work for any illness for which there is a particular pattern of over-expression or under-expression of genes which is characteristic for the disease," according to Shapiro.
He readily admits that a DNA computer roaming around the body spotting and treating disease is still a long way away.
"There are many, many hurdles. It could take decades," Shapiro said, adding that he and his colleagues had not expected to accomplish this step so quickly.
The double helix molecule of DNA that contains human genes stores data on four chemical bases -- known by the letters A, T, C and G -- giving it massive memory capability.
Shapiro's DNA computer is a molecular model of one of the simplest computing machines -- the automaton, which can answer certain yes or no questions.
It uses enzymes, which manipulate DNA, as the computer's hardware. The computer is preprogrammed with medical information and detects markers, or concentrations of certain molecules of RNA (a cousin of DNA) which are overproduced or underproduced to detect the cancer.
If the markers signify a disease, the output releases a molecule similar to an anti-cancer drug to destroy the cancerous cells.
Leonard Adleman, of the University of Southern California, pioneered the field of DNA computers a decade ago by using DNA in a test tube to solve a mathematical problem.
Man (shudders), what would the injection DEVICE look like.
Bend over, here comes big daddy computer. ack.
No it isn't, but since you're having trouble:
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have come a step closer to creating a minuscule DNA computer that may one day be able to spot diseases like cancer from inside the body and release a drug to treat it.
Professor Ehud Shapiro and researchers at Israel's Weizmann Institute constructed the world's smallest biomolecular computer a few years ago.
Now they have programmed it to analyse biological information to detect and treat prostate cancer and a form of lung cancer in laboratory experiments.
"We've taken our earlier molecular computer and augmented it with an input and output module. Together the computer can diagnose a disease and in response produce a drug for the disease in a test tube," Shapiro told Reuters.
The microscopic computer is so minuscule a trillion could fit in a drop of water. Its input, output and software are made up of DNA molecules -- which store and process encoded information about living organisms.
"Our work represents the first actual proof of concept and the first actual demonstration of a possible real-life application for this kind of computer," Shapiro added.
DIAGNOSING CANCER WITHIN THE CELL
The findings, which are published online by the science journal Nature and were presented at a symposium in Brussels, Belgium, could transform how diseases like cancer are treated in the future.
Instead of biopsies to remove cancerous tissue, which then must be analysed in the laboratory. The DNA computer could potentially diagnose the disease within the tissue in the body.
"Our medical computer might one day be administered as a drug, and be distributed throughout the body by the bloodstream to detect disease markers autonomously and independently in every cell," said Shapiro.
It could enable doctors to treat cancer in its earliest stages before tumours have formed and to deliver drugs to hard-to-reach cells if the disease has spread to other parts of the body.
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."
- Seneca
Just because he doesn't have to doesn't mean he won't. :-)
My Movies
Would it release some kind of drug that damages regular cells?
I know it's not supposed to happen, but cancer isn't supposed to happen in the first place either...
AT&ROFLMAO
Thank god they didn't invent this earlier! Injecting computers... shit, computers used to be huge! Now they'd just be sticking a midi-tower into your stomach...
Oh wait, that's going to explain the size of the average geek; they've been onto this for years!
'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
"Hal, please open my bladder sphincter."
"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that."
*pop!* *splotsh!*
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
Yes,its a great invention.But when will it be practically usable?
A great amount of euphoria was generated over the cracking of human genetic code by scientists last year...claiming it was the key to curing ALL Diseases ,Break through..etc
But when will these inventions become really of use to the public?Looks like its gonna take ages to me
Why does yahoo do this
Imagine a time-release implant that would be as effective as normal birth control but have none of the side-effects. Or just an effective way to have male birth control.
While your prostate is in the general neighborhood of your colon, you might want to be more concerned about certain other organs and glands that are more directly connected to it. I'd be less worried about a colonic BSOD, than with an inability to boot, or a poorly-timed abnormal termination.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
...to play life.
It sounds like people are confusing prostate cancer with colo-rectal cancer. The prostate is a gland that is part of a man's sex organs and surrounds the tube called the urethra, located just below the bladder.
I am defenseless. Use your button. Mod me down with all of your hatred.
"Theoretically, a person could be injected with this computer, and it would detect and treat any diseased cells at the earliest stages of development..."
Oh great, so keeping up with the latest virus defs will finally be a literal pain in the ass too....
I guess this is the next step up. Soon enough they'll probably be able to build completely artificial DNA based "life" that can be programmed to perform various tasks , perhaps even sooner then traditional nanobots can be developed.
Calling it a computer is a bit of a misnomer. It's a molecule that recognizes the presences of a specific signal to release a payload. That's it. It is of course a clever trick, but the word "computer" is just a device used by the science journalists to make it sound more interesting.
One day, in line at the company cafeteria, Jack says to Mike behind him, "My elbow hurts like hell. I guess I better see a doctor. " "Listen, don't waste time," Mike replies. "There's a diagnostic computer down at Asda. Just give it a urine sample and the computer'll tell you what's wrong and what to do about it. It takes ten seconds and costs five pounds. . . a lot quicker and better than a doctor. " So Jack deposits a urine sample in a small jar and takes it to Asda.
He deposits five pounds, and the computer lights up and asks for the urine sample. He pours the sample into the slot and waits.
Ten seconds later, the computer ejects a printout: "You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water and avoid heavy activity. It will improve in two weeks"
That evening while thinking how amazing this new technology was, Jack began wondering if the computer could be fooled. He mixed some tap water, a stool sample from his dog, urine samples from his wife and daughter, and masturbated into the mixture for good measure. Jack hurries back to Asda, eager to check the results. He deposits five pounds, pours in his concoction, and awaits the results. The computer prints the following:
1. Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener.
2. Your dog has ringworm. Bathe him with anti-fungal shampoo.
3. Your daughter has a cocaine habit. Get her into rehab.
4. Your wife is pregnant. Twins. They aren't yours. Get a lawyer.
5. If you don't stop playing with yourself, your elbow will never get better. and thank you for shopping at Asda.
Instead of reading a vague description of their results try the following two links:
Summary from Nature's website
Original Aritcle in Nature
Bill
If this story is true, then these researchers may have unlocked a "secret" that is incredible in scope: They have learned (in a limited manner) how to code in DNA - they have hacked nature's UTM.
Such a discovery and the applications of its use would lead to incredible things - both for good and ill! Incredible "cures" and horrific weapons all at once! Instant death and neverending life at our fingertips! In some ways - I think this may have come too soon, and will end up killing off life on this planet - we can't even agree to disagree on our religion (never mind the fact that religion is nothing more than mythology and fantasy for grown adults), instead choosing to kill ourselves over which invisible man in the sky is better!
DNA (and the attendent processes for its replication - heliocase, RNA primase, DNA polymerase, etc) is nothing more than a long UTM program "tape", where the GATC are the symbols for the program - and this "tape" controls the rest of the processes in the cell (ok, if you have followed this long - you can see I am *not* a biologist by any means - I likely have some things very incorrect).
I don't know - I may be wrong - but this just seems incredible (if true)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Theoretically, a person could be injected with this computer, and it would detect and treat any diseased cells at the earliest stages of development, perhaps preventing the disease altogether.
I wonder if this exact or sort of treatment could be used to treat nerve damage? This could range from tinnitus, ALS, or even paralytic debilitation of the type suffered by Christopher Reeves. Also, the story makes reference to treatment in the "earliest stages of the disease". I also would wonder about the eventual possibility of it helping those in the advanced stages of such diseases.
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
Somehow I read this as DNA Computer Defects [...]
frequent masturbation
Nature Magazine has an article about Biological Nanocomputers that was linked off of NPR's All Things Considered, which discussed this issue and is worth a listen (RA AND WM9). This story was followed by the audio freezer story previously, all in all a good day for NPR news.
I mean, did the alien creators have some specific purpose in mind?
Probably we don't notice the "good" "DNA computers" that give us, only the the ones that we percieve to harm us.
The ignorance and stupidity that plagues a majority of Americans?
Now THATS a fix!
technically its a SFSA which is a type of computer. So no, the journal is not using the term incorrectly. FSA (i.e. regular expressions) are also "computers", but we think of them as
programs nowadays. But they technically "compute" a yes/no answer to a decision probably (albeit stochastically).
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, blue screen of death...
until you have gentetic mutaltion that is suposed ot be the next step in humana eveolution and this computer detects it as cancer and bam! humanaity is left where we are today.
or it slams into a piece o bad cholesterol and then it start re-sequencing your DNA and the next thing you know you are a giant space chicken pecking a hole through the earth.
See Below:
- sorter_pc.html ) and additional material from the database can be obtained by contacting the authors (mdatta@mcw.edu ).
ChromSorter PC: A Database of Chromosomal Regions Associated with Human Prostate Cancer.
Etim A, Zhou G, Wen X, Liu H, Ruotti V, Twigger S, Jin W, Matysiak B, Mathis J, Tonellato PJ, Datta MW.
Our increasing use of genetic and genomic strategies to understand human prostate cancer means that we need access to simplified and integrated information present in the associated biomedical literature. In particular, microarray gene expression studies and associated genetic mapping studies in prostate cancer would benefit from a generalized understanding of the prior work associated with this disease. This would allow us to focus subsequent laboratory studies to genomic regions already related to prostate cancer by other scientific methods. We have developed a database of prostate cancer related chromosomal information from the existing biomedical literature. The input material was based on a broad literature search with subsequent hand annotation of information relevant to prostate cancer. The database was then analyzed for identifiable trends in the whole scale literature. We have used this database, named ChromSorter PC, to present graphical summaries of chromosomal regions associated with prostate cancer broken down by age, ethnicity and experimental method. In addition we have placed the database information on the human genome using the Generic Genome Browser tool that allows the visualization of the data with respect to user generated datasets. This Genome Browser and the graphical analysis of the associated data are publicly available at prostategenomics.org (http://www.prostategenomics.org/datamining/chrom
PMID: 15113398 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
One of many projects using the human genome to help diagnose diseases. Remember cures cannot happen overnight, but scientist are working on it.
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance" -Confucius
What would stop someone from creating a self-perpetuating super-disease?
That's the funniest comment I've ever read!
I tried that, and the end dropped off ;(
The only thing wrong with this is the fact that cancer doesn't necessarily manifest itself the same every time. Cancer, just like any other disease is evolving and will evolve... and very well could have already evolved in many people.
Will this computer adapt to ever-changing possibilities of cancer/cancer types?
Flu shots are never the same every year, but they work pretty well. Let's hope this works just as well too.
My uncle works in one of those pet cloning biotech deals, and told me several years ago that there was ebola in laboratories in Texas for the very purpose you describe. My memory is hazy, but I believe that ebola was considered the best choice because it modifies the DNA of every cell in the body, instead of only certain ones. With this idea, DNA modification is not very far from practical right now -- turn off the reproducing and killing you parts of ebola, and change the code that it wants to copy into your DNA.
...
The potential applications, of course, are pretty wacky. Asthma? Gone. Peanut allergies? Gone. You're no longer one of those people who gets cancer from smoking. Change your eye color to match this season's styles -- or your skin color. Hot
... who is working on similar research. She intends to make this sort of thing for quick and easy tests for diseases instead of the painful, long process of blood tests and swabs. Make a protein and "program" it to look for a certain disease, if it finds that disease it "grabs" it and signals to you that it's there. Think of the uses for this, doctors could difinitively diagnose patients in a matter of minutes, with just little protein. It's a great idea.
Awww... I wanted to explode - GIR
E.Coli is great for in vitro experiments, but it has a nasty habit of mutating. A lot.
Full Text of the Nature article (without the ridiculous Nature subscription price)
Links to associated material here
-zAmboni
Team Ars Technica Lamb Chop
Sounds like the beginnings of Borg civilization to me.
Using a retrovirus to alter DNA in humans and change our genome for the better isn't exactly breaking news. It has been tried in gene therapy experiments in France (SCID) for a few years now with limited sucess. We already have the ability to take a piece of DNA and plop it down in the genome; however, there is no way to determine where the DNA will be inserted and there is no way to direct its insertion. Basically, a reverse transcriptase takes the RNA from the virus and inserts it into the genome wherever the nucleosomes are currently unwound. The problem with this is when the new "good gene" gets put in the middle of an old "important gene" and causes the old gene to lose its function. This may seem almost impossible considering the size of the genome (3 Gigabases) and the small number of genes (~40 kilobases). However, if you think about it, the most available spots on the genome are those who are activly doing something (and currently unwound.)
just wondering... is DNA ressearch illegal under DMCA? it's sort of decompiling the genetic source code in a certain way
Good spoof, but, I think, I read something like this before. And I think, the author's death is no longer exaggerated :-( It was about the well-water sent out for testing, and the result was: "Your horse has diabetes."
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Guys - read the abstract of the Nature article: (http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/ nature/journal/v414/n6862/abs/414430a0_fs.html).
It describes a very very basic step - not the Star Trek applications in the newspaper articles.
Mainstream science writers are even worse than computer ones so use a similar standard of skepticism you would for a Microsoft press release. With Google, there is no longer any excuse for blindly believing hack journalism...
The OSS principles apply to both hardware and software and hence to wetware(sic) as well.
Q.
Insert Signature Here
Isn't the /. story exaggerating again ?
The quotation says:
"have developed a DNA computer which can automatically detect and treat prostate cancer..."
And the real story says:
"have come a step closer to creating a minuscule DNA computer that may one day be able to spot diseases like cancer..."
And later on
There are many, many hurdles. It could take decades.
Oh, come on, fellows...
Every time somebody comes out with a sentence containing 'DNA' and 'computer', it is immediately believed. This article is clearly very, very specualtive. Yes, somebody has created something that looks a computer when seen from a certain angle and in not too strong light. Anything that even approaches a first, simple practical application for this kind of thing is probably decades away, if indeed it ever happens. Beginning to talk about releasing a 'DNA computer' into somebody and actually attacking cancer cells is pure science fiction. The hurdles that must be overcome are staggering; before we can even contemplate something like that, we need to thoroughly understand how life works in all details - considering the speed with which research progresses now and the fact that we have only just begun to scratch the surface, I would say this is at least a couple of centuries away.
I don't think people in general appreciate just how complex the chemical processes that support life are. Believe you me, we're not talking about simple things, like eg. memorising the exact position of all grains of sand in the Sahara.
I am not surprised to find this kind of article in Nature; they have often published dubious results - they are after all a popular magazine rather than a scientific journal. Also, I think in recent years there have been a number of highly doubtful 'results' that seem to originate in Israel; this, by the way, is simply an observation, not an expression of any 'anti-semitism', in case you wondered.
In related news : Microsoft announced it'll launch soon a product named Windows DNA (internally codenamed Clyster), and has begun a campaign of FUD against Weizmann Institute's computer. SCO has filed a suit against Weizmann Institute, claiming their computer uses portion of some of SOC's copyrighted project, but SCO lawyers refuse to reveal publicly witch.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Good, I can keep smoking forever.
the privacy?
This is the direction that DNA and gene research need to be focusing on. True genetic therapy must be targeted. Just throwing a gene into a virus and having it deposited in cells all over the body is a wrong approach. Its treating us as if every cell is the ultimate stem cell. That's not at all true because our cells have differentiated. True genetic therapy has to be able to fix the DNA in very specific cells so that the protein byproducts are properly placed per where they are needed and where the body's regulation mechanisms are present to control them.
My interest in this area is actually selfish. I have two children who would be perfect candidates for early generations of technology like this. They have a severe form of Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy. MMD has been traced to being the result of a simple unstable sequence in one of the chromosomes. When replicated, this sequence tends to stretch. So, CTGCTG becomes CTGCTGCTGCTGCTG. The severity of the disease is at least partially indicated by the number of repeats. Theirs is in the 1000s. This repeated sequence in the middle of the chromosome, though apparently not on an active gene, apparently interferes with the proper operation of its neighbors. The interesting thing to me is the simplicity and uniqueness of the pattern. This pattern is apparently a flawed and unstable one that can be taken out wherever it exists without causing problems. i.e. it should never exist in DNA. So, if a compound could be designed that "recognizes" this pattern and no others, snips it out, and mates the broken DNA back together without this piece in the middle, you'd have a cure for the genetic flaw. So, this is one of the simplest DNA problems that could be pursued with technology like this.
Now, a more nuanced view of the patent system would have no problem with rewarding these guys while not giving Microsoft a monopoly on timed button presses.
Soon enough we'll have these tiny computers in all of us to fight all kinds of disease. Resistance is futile.
My Gawd WTF...
"Computer does something actually useful"
When will computers be useful on the desktop of every home?
it took years, but almost all desktops in countries like canada, USA, germany, etc. etc. etc....
Why ask questions with infinite answers? just do somthing about it.
just DO.