Modelling DNA computing nanosystems

In the cell, DNA plays the well-known role of encoding information that ultimately leads to the production of proteins. However, just considered alone, DNA molecules have surprising and desirable properties that can be exploited to make synthetic structures and computing machinery at the nanoscale.

In this talk, I will focus on how computational models of "wet" DNA computing systems can be fruitfully developed as a parallel track to doing actual experiments in the lab with DNA. Specifically, I will talk about the development of a computational model of a DNA "stack recorder" system that we have implemented in-vitro in the CSBB, and how this model helps decipher the experimental results. I will also talk about the development of a temperature-dependent model of the PCR reaction that we have recently used in a summer school to teach Design of Experiments.