Molecular information processing

Living systems process vast amounts of information about their environment using complex reaction networks (think of, for example, signaling networks in immune cells, or quorum sensing in bacteria). If we could capture the properties of such networks in synthetic ’life-like’ materials, we could construct molecular information processing systems that are very different from the computers that we know now. In this theme, we build on a long standing expertise in the group on enzymatic reaction networks. We have developed a scalable approach to complex enzymatic reaction networks where we separate the enzymatic ‘hardware’ from small molecule ‘software’ in microfluidic reactors. We can now build molecular information processing systems ranging from simple logic gates based on Boolean functions, to prototypical neural networks.

Keywords: organic synthesis, enzymology, microfluidics, MatLab modeling
Key publications: Angewandte Chemie, 2019, 130, 14261-14265; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 8146-8151, Nature Chem. 2015, 7, 160-165