Speaker
Description
Synthetic chemical reaction networks (CRNs) typically operate in closed systems with finite reactants, limiting most circuits to a single round of computation. This constraint prevents sustained dynamics such as repeated execution of Boolean logic.
Here a simple motif, called a CRN buffer, is described that enables repeated circuit operation. CRN buffers consist of high concentration reversible reactions, analogous to acid-base pH buffers, and can maintain the availability of species by reversible activation and deactivation. As long as the buffer concentration remains high, circuits continue to operate over multiple cycles.
We show theoretically how this motif extends a range of chemical computations from single-use to multi-cycle operation, enabling reusable digital logic, sequential logic, sustained analog arithmetic, robust oscillators, and stable reaction-diffusion systems that can maintain spatial patterns over extended durations.
We then present preliminary experimental implementations using DNA strand-displacement (DSD) reactions, including a simple DSD reaction that operates for ten cycles. Our experimental results incorporate recent advances in circuit preparation that reduce leak in high-concentration regimes, enabling reliable operation under the conditions required for buffering.
Buffered reaction networks provide a general strategy for sustaining chemical computation, enabling chemical circuits to operate for many cycles in closed systems.
