Surface-Immobilised DNA Molecular Machines for Information Processing

The microscopic information processing machinery of biological cells provides inspiration for the field of molecular computation, and for the use of synthetic DNA to store and process information and instructions. A single microlitre of solution can contain billions of distinct DNA sequences and consequently DNA computation offers huge potential for parallel processing. However, conventional data readout systems are complex, and the methods used are not well-suited for combination with mainstream computer circuits. Immobilisation of DNA machines on surfaces may allow integration of molecular devices with traditional electronics, facilitating data readout and enabling low-power massively parallel processing. Here we outline a general framework for hybrid bioelectronic systems and proceed to describe the results of our preliminary experiments on dynamic DNA structures immobilised on a surface, performed using QCM-D (quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring), which involves the use of acoustic waves to probe a molecular layer on a gold-coated quartz sensor.