Programmable biocomputers to diagnose and treat disease

Researchers at Harvard University and Princeton University have discovered a way to create programmable "biocomputers" entirely out of DNA, RNA, and proteins. These bio computers can make basic boolean(true vs. false) evaluations based on things that individual cells in the body are doing. They can then help in diagnosis by outputting chemicals that are easily detectable. Allowing doctors to detect conditions that would normally be very difficult to detect. The biocomputers can also be programmed to take specific action against mutated or unhealthy cells. Allowing doctors to provide a much more targeted response to disease.

What is even cooler, is that the researchers claim that they could convince our own bodies to build them by implanting the genetic blueprints. So a minor injection, could cause your body to build millions of biocomputers that would spread throughout your entire body. Targeting disease wherever it was found.

Read the entire story at PhysOrg: In a first, scientists develop tiny implantable biocomputers