Genetic engineering methods edit mammalian cell DNA into biological computers.

Boston University synthetic biologist Wilson Wong's team has come up with a way to use genetic engineering to edit mammalian cell DNA to perform complex calculations that could turn such cells into biological computers, Science reported Tuesday.
they hope new programming techniques will help with cancer treatment, on-demand growth and tissue that can replace damaged body parts.
scientists are trying to extend cell editing from bacteria to mammalian cells, creating DNA circuits that can help detect and treat human diseases.
However, many of these efforts have failed because complex circuits, if they work properly, require a single genome piece of switching to work steadily, and the most common way for genes to turn on or off is to bind proteins called transcription factors to specific genes and regulate their expression.
problem is that these transcription factors have subtle and unstable manifestations.
team abandoned transcription factors and used shear enzymes to switch the genes of human kidney cells.
To design the DNA circuit, Huang's team successfully stabilized the CONTROL of the DNA switch by inserting four additional pieces of DNA, two of which are called recombinant enzymes, to activate and light cells that produce green fluorescent proteins when combined with a specific drug.
report published in Nature Biotechnology, Huang's team reported that circuits could be created to perform different logic operations by adding more recombinant enzymes to different target lines.
, the team has built 113 different circuits with a success rate of 96.5%.
further demonstrated that they designed a human cell biology sample system that allowed circuits to run 16 different logics in different input combinations.
synthetic biologists hope to create new therapies with these emerging cell circuits.
For example, you can design immune-active T cells to detect biomarkers produced by cancer cells, or try to design stem cells that, at different signals, develop into specific cell types that produce the body tissue needed by human patients on demand, such as insulin-producing beta cells or cartilage-producing cartilage cells.
basic idea of synthetic biology is that biology is a machine, genetic material is the process that controls the operation of the machine, and all biomass molecules are standardized parts.
while scientists have been able to manipulate DNA at the genomic level, and designing viruses and regenerating organs may not seem difficult, functionally it is still limited to reproducing the inherent functions and minor modifications of cells.
, however, this emerging discipline is destined to "look like a golden future", it is best to plan ahead to build a "wall" to guard against social and ethical risks, after all, anything is possible.
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