Join us for a chat with Sam Schaffter, a postdoc at NIST working on realizing complex transcription-based strand displacement in living systems. We start the conversation with the story of how he made the transition from the molecular biology of food to molecular programming. We then move on to the details of his research on transcriptional circuits including where the idea came from and the trials of taking molecular computing from the test tube to cell systems. He tells us about the differences and similarities between academic and government research and how everything is a “measurement” when you work for NIST. We round out the conversation with Sam’s dreams of the future of nucleic acid-based sensors for diagnostic and control purposes and the research he would like to see in the next 5, 10, 25 and 50 years to advance the field toward application.

Sam conducted his PhD research in the field of DNA nanotechnology and DNA computing, working in Rebecca Schulman’s group at Joh…