Programming Cells, With CellOS 58

Posted by timothy on Thursday November 10, 2011 @10:41AM from the undeclared-membrane-operations-are-fatal dept.

First time accepted submitter JoeMerchant writes "An international team of synthetic biologists, led by professor of computer science Natalio Krasnogor at the University of Nottingham, hopes to revolutionize synthetic biology with what they call CellOS, a 'bottom-up approach to cellular computing, in which computational chemical processes are encapsulated within liposomes.' The bold project is aptly named AUdACiOuS."

Programming Cells, With CellOS

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Jsut watch out (Score:4, Funny)

by Chrisq ( 894406 ) writes: on Thursday November 10, 2011 @10:42AM (#38012122)

Jsut watch out for the bugs

- PS3 (Score:3)
  
  by tepples ( 727027 ) writes:
  
  And watch out for the firmware update that removes the public's ability to program the Cells.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by d3ac0n ( 715594 ) writes:
  
  I'm waiting for the "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" tag to show up on this story.
  Fully programmable cells?
  And what happens when someone programs them to break down any biological material and then to use that broken down material to replicate indefinitely?
  Grey Goo disaster anyone?
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by nobodie ( 1555367 ) writes:
  
  I'm sorry, i'm confused, how do you program with a cello?
  I understand being able to listen to cellos on audacious,i use it as my primary music player right now, but the rest of this thread is really messed up.
ACRONYM (Score:5, Funny)

by Sockatume ( 732728 ) writes: on Thursday November 10, 2011 @10:43AM (#38012140)

That acronym is ATRoCiOuS.

- Re:ACRONYM (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by Ukab the Great ( 87152 ) writes: on Thursday November 10, 2011 @11:41AM (#38012816)
  
  1. I believe technically CellOS is a portmanteau, not an acronym.
  2. A Pennsylvania Information System would be PennIS.
  
  - - Re: (Score:3)
      
      by jd ( 1658 ) writes:
      
      It's a compound word if the two words used are element words, otherwise it's a molecule word.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by dogsbreath ( 730413 ) writes:
  
  Do you mean to say:
  To understand the acronym is ATRoCiOuS {
  You must understand the acronym is ATRoCiOus
  }
  ?
  ( with some apologies to recursion freaks, and formatting n*zis )
Cellular? (Score:1)

by broginator ( 1955750 ) writes:

I took cellular automata in college, and they never mentioned this...
- Re: (Score:3)
  
  by zAPPzAPP ( 1207370 ) writes:
  
  Actually it's the old meaning. We have come full circle.
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by dpilot ( 134227 ) writes:
    
    How about "vi - R - us" - for emacs haters.
FreeCell? (Score:2)

by Marc Madness ( 2205586 ) writes:

How long until we have a CellOS back-end for GCC?
neural networks (Score:2)

by dominious ( 1077089 ) writes:

so if you program an Artificial Neural Network it will be a biological one then... hmmm
Time to really get into declarative languages then (Score:2)

by sirlark ( 1676276 ) writes:

I guess that the 'language' would have to be declarative, like prolog, since there is no way to enforce sequential execution. On a really positive note, at least the platform won't be subject to potential fragmentation. Like Richard Feynman said: 'You can't fool mother nature'
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Mitchell314 ( 1576581 ) writes:
  
  Fragmentation? Please, we got nothing on mother nature when it comes to fragmentation. :P
I'd like to thank Slashdot... (Score:3)

by dreemernj ( 859414 ) writes: on Thursday November 10, 2011 @11:18AM (#38012524) Homepage Journal

...for not all-capping their titles. PROGRAMMING CELLS, WITH CELLOS is a very different headline.

- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Thing 1 ( 178996 ) writes:
  
  Well, music soothed the savage beast; perhaps it had some genetic effect as well?
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by tehlinux ( 896034 ) writes:
  
  Too late for Steve though.
Yet another project with (Score:1)

by kungfuj35u5 ( 1331351 ) writes:

a name of an already popular open source application: http://audacious-media-player.org/ [audacious-...player.org]
This is almost as bad as the libtorrent and libTorrent fiasco.
Danger (Score:2)

by Dunbal ( 464142 ) * writes:

Since a court ruled recently that DNA couldn't be patented, now it looks like they're going to make an end run and try to get it copyrighted instead, as part of a "program" to genetically manipulate cells (and their contents). Oh well done.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Sockatume ( 732728 ) writes:
  
  If you could protect DNA sequences with copyright, someone would've already done so. They're trivial to represent in text.
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by Dunbal ( 464142 ) * writes:
    
    But you just can't do that - it would be like trying to copyright the weather. But if I copyright the processes by which I can get a cell to express certain genes by calling it a "language" and an "algorithm", bingo.
    - Re: (Score:2)
      
      by MozeeToby ( 1163751 ) writes:
      
      That's not how copyright works. You can only copyright your specific implementation of getting a cell to express certain genes. Someone else can come along and write a different program to express the same genes and, unless there is evidence that they copies your work, there's nothing you can do about it.
From the article... (Score:2)

by JoeMerchant ( 803320 ) writes:

I will aim at making E.coli bacteria much more easily to program and hence harness for useful purposes
So, insert a switch into E.coli to activate "auto-brewery" mode, swallow a pill containing the key on Friday afternoon and you get Free Beer, internally produced.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by Sockatume ( 732728 ) writes:
  
  So your idea of a good Friday night is eating grains while belching repeatedly until you pass out from intoxication?
  - Re: (Score:3)
    
    by JoeMerchant ( 803320 ) writes:
    
    Presumably the E.coli would be programmed to shut off alcohol production when a relatively low concentration is reached - errors in this threshold could range from amusing to fatal. And, I don't really like beer that much, I'd probably drink grape juice instead of eating grains... About the gas, that sounds like a problem for another bug, the same one we need to scrub gaseous CO2 from exhaust pipes.
cellular engineering (Score:2)

by Iamthecheese ( 1264298 ) writes:

When can I have my cancer killing viruses, junk removing microbes, and human 1.05 patch?
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by JoeMerchant ( 803320 ) writes:
  
  Considering these guys are somewhere like the planning stages of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine, I'm guessing you'll be dead before anything that sophisticated comes around.
Re: (Score:2)

by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:

Comment removed based on user account deletion
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by grcumb ( 781340 ) writes:
  
  Actually, there's already an Android version based on this, named Fro Yo Ma.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by jd ( 1658 ) writes:
  
  Hey, you never know. If you can program yeast cells with light, then surely you can program other sorts of cell with cello music. The Mozart Effect and all that.
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by eriqk ( 1902450 ) writes:
  
  Dust off the cello to play some blood music, [wikipedia.org] you mean.
synthetic biologists (Score:1)

by rwise2112 ( 648849 ) writes:

I'd like to know who made these synthetic biologists and why? Is there a shortage of real ones?
Oblig. Toothpaste for Dinner (Score:1)

by dingo_kinznerhook ( 1544443 ) writes:

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/072906/linux-dog.gif [toothpastefordinner.com]
Krasnogor (Score:1)

by buanzo ( 542591 ) writes:

Klingon. Definitely.
VüDü Linux improvement (Score:1)

by bsa3 ( 200 ) writes:

Will CellOS make it easier to install Linux on a dead badger?
link to free version of journal article (Score:3)

by tobiah ( 308208 ) writes: on Thursday November 10, 2011 @01:58PM (#38014326)

www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~nxk/PAPERS/DPDPSys.pdf
It looks like a well-considered approach. Hacking living organisms and designing new ones is coming, and it will be a big deal.

Ah! They're from Nottingham! (Score:2)

by jd ( 1658 ) writes:

That explains everything!

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Jsut watch out (Score:4, Funny)

PS3 (Score:3)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:1)

ACRONYM (Score:5, Funny)

Re:ACRONYM (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:3)

Re: (Score:2)

Cellular? (Score:1)

Re: (Score:3)

Re: (Score:2)

FreeCell? (Score:2)

neural networks (Score:2)

Time to really get into declarative languages then (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

I'd like to thank Slashdot... (Score:3)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:1)

Yet another project with (Score:1)

Danger (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

From the article... (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3)

cellular engineering (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:1)

synthetic biologists (Score:1)

Oblig. Toothpaste for Dinner (Score:1)

Krasnogor (Score:1)

VüDü Linux improvement (Score:1)

link to free version of journal article (Score:3)

Ah! They're from Nottingham! (Score:2)

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