MAYA-II

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MAYA-II (Molecular Array of YES and AND logic gates) is a DNA computer, developed by scientists at Columbia University and the University of New Mexico.

Replacing the normally silicon-based circuits, this chip has DNA strands to form the circuit. It is said that the speed that such DNA-circuited computer chips can attain will rival and surpass the silicon-based ones, they will be of use in blood samples and in the body and might part-take in single cell signaling.

It is the successor to the MAYA I which was composed of only 25 logic gates and could only complete a partial game of tic-tac-toe. MAYA-II has more than 100 DNA circuits and can now thoroughly play a game of tic-tac-toe. It is very slow - one move in a game of tic-tac-toe can take up to 30 minutes making it more of a demonstration than an actual application.^[1]

The arrangement of this device looks like that of a tic-tac-toe grid and consists of nine wells coated with culture cells. The cell-containing wells are filled with a solution that contain DNA strands coding for red or green fluorescent dyes.

This technology was used to deepen the quality of diagnostics given to patients infected with the West Nile virus. Joanne Macdonald, a Columbia University virologist, hopes this device can be implanted in the human body and control the presence of cancer cells or the levels of insulin for diabetic patients.^[2]

One of the suggested uses put forward by MAYA's creators is that technology such as this can be used in situations where fluid is involved, such as in a sample of blood or a body, since it does not use traditional silicon components. ^[3]