Pathways to cellular supremacy in biocomputing

Lewis Grozinger, Martyn Amos, Thomas Gorochowski, Pablo Carbonell, Diego Oyarzun, Ruud Stoof, Harold Fellermann, Paulo Zuliani, Huseyin Tas, Angel Goñi-Moreno

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

102 Citations (Scopus)
66 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Synthetic biology uses living cells as the substrate for performing human-defined computations. Many current implementations of cellular computing are based on the “genetic circuit” metaphor, an approximation of the operation of silicon-based computers. Although this conceptual mapping has been relatively successful, we argue that it fundamentally limits the types of computation that may be engineered inside the cell, and fails to exploit the rich and diverse functionality available in natural living systems. We propose the notion of “cellular supremacy” to focus attention on domains in which biocomputing might offer superior performance over traditional computers. We consider potential pathways toward cellular supremacy, and suggest application areas in which it may be found.
Original languageEnglish
Article number5250
Number of pages11
JournalNature Communications
Volume10
Issue number1
Early online date20 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2019

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