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DNA Computer Detects, Treats Disease

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the saving-test-tubes-lives dept.

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."

8 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. I have to wonder... by wookyhoo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...what happens if the computer gets a virus?

    1. Re:I have to wonder... by Gilgaron · · Score: 5, Interesting

      More concerning would be whether or not they would induce an immune response.

      Immunopathology can be as mundane as allergy symptoms or as severe as shock.

      If you were treated with these computers in one instance they could cure you, but you could develop antibodies against them. Later upon receiving a second treatment you could induce large scale inflammatory responses.

  2. Re:May sound like a joke... by ItMustBeEsoteric · · Score: 4, Interesting

    True. I remember reading in a bit of Sci-Fi called The Miracle Strain by Michael Cordy about how, in the future once machines had advanced enough to decode each person's genome super fast, to the point of reconstructing a life-like image from their DNA in a few seconds, they had basically gotten to the point of using retroviral factors to transmit DNA changes throughout the body.

    On the non-Sci-Fi note, HIV is probably the best to do this, because once it's stripped of the naughty bits you have a very powerful retrovirus, the most powerful in nature. Of course, at this point it's not practical yet, but it's probably the best way to go about changing DNA, that we can dream up for now anyway.

  3. Birth Control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  4. Prostate? by Seoulstriker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

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  5. what about advanced? by bluethundr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

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  6. A question about morals by Digitus1337 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What would stop someone from creating a self-perpetuating super-disease?

  7. Is skepticism only reserved for vaporware? by hung_himself · · Score: 1, Interesting

    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...