A genetic engineering project by Davidson College students for the 2007 International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Competition has generated quite a buzz! Read about it.
Here's the group's short summary of their project:
"Silicon computers are powerful tools for solving mathematical problems but are inefficient parallel processors. For iGEM2007, Davidson College and Missouri Western State University have jointly developed a bacterial system capable of solving a Hamiltonian Path Problem in vivo. Our system takes advantage of E. coli’s exponential growth to address the complexity of this problem in a way that traditional computers cannot. We successfully detected solutions to a Hamiltonian Path Problem through phenotypic screening."
- 5/01/07, HHMI Bulletin: Judges Flip for Bacterial Computer (pdf)
- 5/19/08, Science News: I, Computer: Engineered bacteria become the first living computers
- 5/20/08, Gizmag: First living computer used for flipping pancakes
- 5/21/08, Science Daily: New Meaning For The Term 'Computer Bug'
- 5/23/08, NPR Science Friday: Calculating Bacteria: Real Computer Bugs? (radio interview)
- 5/23/08, Nanowerk News: Living Computer solves Burnt Pancake Problem
- 5/28/08, Discovery News: Bacteria-Run Computer Solves Math Puzzle
- 5/30/08, Scientific American: DNA Computer Puts Microbes to Work as Number Crunchers
- 6/02/08, MSNBC.com: Living Computers Solve Complex Math Puzzle
- 6/03/08, ComputerWorld: Bacteria Colonies Used to Model Parallel Processing System
- 5/20/08, Lenta (Russia): Computer bacteria (Russian)
- 5/23/08, Tech Innov: "Living Computer" built with genetically modified bacteria (Spanish)
- 12/4/07, Davidson College News: Davidson's Bacterial Computer Win Gold at iGEM
- 11/3/06, Davidson College News: Research Team Scores Big for Bio-Computer
- Davidson team's iGEM07 Wiki
- Living Hardware to Solve the Hamiltonian Path Problem (Powerpoint presentation)
- Professor Malcolm Campbell (advisor)
- Assistant Professor Karmella Haynes (advisor)
- News stories about other iGEM07 projects