Imagine a device no bigger than a credit card that could extract your DNA from a drop of blood and map your entire genetic code while you wait. Within a short period of time the proneness to any illness or disease could be mapped and studied. Biologists and engineers will have ONE working in just a few years, because the tool that makes it possible, a genetic microarray known as the “DNA computer “, already exists. Able to scrutinize tens of thousands of genes at once, the DNA computer’s astonishing abilities are astounding biologists. Using these chips, people can in one afternoon confirm work that takes several years using conventional gene-sequencing processes. The chips aren’t just about increased speed. Using them, researchers can do things that were previously almost impossible, such as, uncovering the genetic machinations behind the complex biochemistry of organisms.

The scientists have devised a computer that can perform 330 trillion operations per second, more than 100,000 times the speed of the fastest PC. The secret: It runs on DNA.

Years ago Scientists described the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Our bodies are formed from between 50 and 100 trillion cells. These cells are organized into tissues, such as skin, muscle and nerves. Each cell contains all of the organism’s genetic instructions stored as DNA. The extremely long DNA molecule is actually made of a long string of chemical building block called “nucleotides. Four different nucleotides are adenine (A), thyn (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C).

Biochemical “nanocomputers” already exist in nature; they are manifest in all living things. But they’re largely uncontrollable by humans. We cannot, for example, program a tree to calculate the digits of pi. The idea of using DNA to store and process information took off in 1994 when a California scientist first used DNA in a test tube to solve a simple mathematical problem. Since then, several research groups have proposed designs for DNA computers, but those attempts have relied on an energetic molecule called ATP for fuel. This re-designed device uses its DNA input as its source of fuel.

The DNA Computer is a molecular computer that works biochemically. To the naked eye, the DNA computer looks like clear water solution in a test tube. There is no mechanical device. A DNA computer has the ability to store information and compute solutions, though its methodology is different in that it works off molecular automations or preset reactions.

When we talk about DNA Computing, It computes using enzymes that react with DNA strands, causing chain reactions. The chain reactions act as a kind of simultaneous computing or parallel processing.

Substitute A, C; G & T components (DNA strands) for the software, substitute enzymes for the hardware and you have a DNA computing system. The enzymes are chemicals that do things to DNA in much the same way they do in our body. The scientists tell the devices what to do by controlling the composition of the DNA software molecules. It’s a completely different approach to pushing electrons around a dry circuit in a conventional computer.

Results are analyzed using a technique that allows scientists to see the length of output molecule. Results are without intervention, if you want to present the output to the naked eye, human manipulation is needed.

When a molecular computer (DNA) becomes a reality, manipulation of matter at the level of DNA will lead to many breakthroughs in all areas of science, industry and medicine.

Adelman, a qualified mathematician and computer scientist, recently studied molecular biology, including DNA manipulation. As per his studies, the DNA sequence can be customized. This is to realize that the method by which DNA works in nature is a form of Turing Machine. And such a machine can be used to solve computational problem.

As of now, the DNA computer can only perform rudimentary functions, and it has no practical applications. It is programmable, but it’s not universal. There are computing tasks it inherently can’t do.

The device can check whether a list of zeros and ones has an even number of ones. The computer cannot count how many ones are in a list, since it has a finite memory and the number of ones might exceed its memory size. Also, it can only answer yes or no to a uestion. It can’t, for example, correct a misspelled word.

The Guinness World Records recognized the DNA computer as “the smallest biological computing device” ever constructed. DNA computing is in its infancy, and its implications are only beginning to be explored. But it could transform the future of computers, especially in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.