The  Weizmann  Institute  of  Science
                  Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science


                            Computer Science Seminar

                                   Lila Kari
                         Department of Computer Science
                         University of Western Ontario
                            London, Ontario, Canada


                                 will speak on


                            HOW TO COMPUTE WITH DNA

Abstract:
Biomolecular computing is a new computational paradigm that
 employs (bio)molecule manipulation to solve computational problems, while at
 the same time exploring natural processes as computational models. The
 excitement generated by the first successful experiment (Adleman, 1994) was
 due to the fact that computing with biomolecules (mainly DNA) offered an
 entirely new way of performing and looking at computations. The main idea was
 that data could be encoded in DNA strands, and molecular biology techniques
 could be used to execute computational operations.

 This talk addresses the issues of the computational power of DNA computing in
 vitro (in the  molecular biology laboratory) and in vivo (as performed by
 unicellular organisms).

 Besides the novelty of the approach, biomolecular computing has the potential
 to outperform electronic computers. For example, DNA computations may use a
 billion times less energy than an electronic computer, while storing data in a
 trillion times less space. Moreover, computing with DNA is highly parallel: in
 principle there could be billions or trillions of DNA molecules undergoing
 chemical reactions, that is, performing computations, simultaneously.





                      The lecture will take place in the 
                     Lecture Hall, Room 1, Ziskind Building
                          on Monday, December 20, 1999
                                    at 14:30