An international team of scientists has spent two decades developing a new biocomputer that uses living bacteria to process information. Researchers from Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia combined biology, computer science, and engineering for the project, announcing their findings on Nov. 3 after publishing a paper earlier this year in Nature.
Solving Complex Problems
Dan Nicolau, a McGill bioengineering professor and senior author for the research paper, told CNET via email that electronic sequential computers are not designed to tackle decision trees without requiring a massive amount of RAM. To run calculations, the study utilized two types of bacteria: Escherichia coli, chosen because it moves through fluid in a predictable and measurable way, and Vibrio natriegens, selected for its rapid reproduction rate.
The research team tested the biocomputer on a mathematical challenge known as the Subset Sum Problem, which grows exponentially harder and can take traditional computers centuries or millions of years to solve as inputs increase. The team translated the math problem into a graph and built a tiny physical structure featuring a network of tunnel branches mirroring the graph. Each tunnel fork acts as a decision point, while every possible route represents a different solution.
Simultaneous Processing
Researchers released fast-reproducing bacteria into the tunnels to explore multiple routes to the solution simultaneously. Although individual bacteria move slowly compared to digital processing, they examine numerous solutions at once instead of working sequentially, and bacterial reproduction automatically generates additional processing units when more computing power is needed.
The team tracked the bacteria through the correct tunnels using automated image analysis to identify which paths met the problem constraints. Researchers also controlled temperatures to prevent the bacteria from overcrowding while navigating the network.
Regarding whether the system could run the 1993 video game Doom, Nicolau noted that it theoretically could, provided the setup was massive enough to host the necessary quantity of slow bacterial processors. Nicolau explained that biocomputing could help alleviate the global RAM shortage since no RAM is required, while also expanding the fundamental definition of what constitutes a computer.
