Noise in Molecular Logic Gates

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Abstract

A Boolean variable B that ranges over {true,false} can be represented by two molecular species {B_true,B_false}. Boolean gates like AND can then be described by chemical reactions over those species. These reactions can in turn be implemented by DNA molecules and physically executed. Networks of such Boolean gates can function as controllers for molecular-scale devices, including devices we may want to insert into living organisms. We want to investigate, by mathematical analysis, modelchecking, and simulation, the noise behavior of these logical gates, due to both noisy inputs and to the intrinsic molecular fluctuations generated by chemical reactions. How we can we compute reliably in such a regime, and how can we design logic gates that are resistant to noise? Prerequisites: Background in verification and/or simulation