Genesis Machines: Synthetic Biology and the Engineering of Life

Speaker:
Dr Martyn Amos, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Venue: Meeting Room, School of Computer Engineering
Date: 27 September 2007, Thursday
Time: 3.00 - 4.00 pm

Chair: A/Prof Lin Feng

Abstract:
Molecular Computers have been dreamt of since the 1950s, and a reality since 1994. Right now, living cells are being integrated with silicon nanontubes to create hybrid machines with entirely new capabilities. This research raises amazing new questions. Does nature 'compute', and, if so, how? Can natural systems inspire entirely new ways of doing computation? How can humanity benefit from this revolutionary new technology? What are the dangers? And what are the ethical implications of tinkering with nature's circuits? In this talk, he will examine just what it means to reprogram the logic of life.

Biodata of Speaker:
Dr Martyn Amos is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing and Mathematics at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He graduated in Computer Science from Coventry University in 1993, before obtaining the world's first Ph.D. in DNA computing in 1997, from the University of Warwick. He then held a Leverhulme Special Research Fellowship, before taking up academic appointments at the Universities of Liverpool (2000-2002) and Exeter (2002-2006). He has edited or written several books on the intersection of biology and computer science, and is the Deputy Director of the European Molecular Computing Consortium.