Computing Reliably with Molecular Walkers

DNA computing is emerging as a versatile technology that promises a vast range of applications, including biosensing, drug delivery and synthetic biology. DNA logic circuits can be achieved in solution using strand displacement reactions, or by decision-making molecular robots-so called ‘walkers’-that traverse tracks placed on DNA ‘origami’ tiles.

Similarly to conventional silicon technologies, ensuring fault-free DNA circuit designs is challenging, with the difficulty compounded by the inherent unreliability of the DNA technology and lack of scientific understanding. This lecture will give an overview of computational models that capture DNA walker computation and demonstrate the role of quantitative verification and synthesis in ensuring the reliability of such systems. Future research challenges will also be discussed.

Speaker Details

Marta Kwiatkowska is Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, and Director of the Midlands e-Science Centre of Excellence in Modelling and Analysis of Large Complex Systems. She has internationally leading expertise in probabilistic modelling and verification, and was invited speaker at the 18th Logic in Computer Science Symposium (LICS03). Kwiatkowska led the development of state-of-the-art probabilistic model checking software tool PRISM (www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~dxp/prism/), a research programme funded by EPSRC, DTI and QinetiQ. PRISM has been used worldwide to analyse a range of communication protocols, including Bluetooth device discovery, dynamic power management, nanotechnology designs, randomized distributed algorithms and metabolic pathways. Kwiatkowska’s current research projects concern probabilistic model checking, verification of asynchronous hardware, ubiquitous computing, ad hoc network protocols, modeling of biological processes, e-Science and grid computing. She recently co-authored a book, Mathematical Techniques for Analyzing Concurrent and Probabilistic Systems, AMS 2004 (www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~dxp/publications/KNP04a.html). Kwiatkowska is editor of Transactions on Computational Systems Biology and Journal of Logical Methods in Computer Science (LMCS), regularly serves on conference programme committees and is involved in the UK Grand Challenges initiative on Ubiquitous Computing. For more details see www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~mzk.

Date:
Speakers:
Marta Kwiatkowska

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