While this is only short-range laboratory techology and not directly related to mind control as described on this site and others, it is more evidence that radio signals can affect body functioning in ways unknown to most of the general public. Discoveries like this underscore the need for governments to stop denying and start disclosing all such technology, and start seriously investigating reported abuses.

Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

January 16, 2002
Tech Talk

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2002

Scientists control biological materials with radio waves

by Deborah Halber
News Office

It's not exactly "ET, phone home," but MIT researchers reported in
the Jan.  10 issue of Nature that they can "speak" to DNA
biomolecules with radio waves.

The goal is to instruct biological materials how to act for a
variety of purposes. Biological machines may one day be used to
perform computation, assemble computer components or become part of
computer hardware or circuitry. Radio-controlled biology may lead
to single-atom or single-molecule machines, or the ability to hook
tiny antennae into living systems to turn genes on and off.

"Recent studies have provided new insights into the complexity,
precision and efficiency of biomolecular machines at the molecular
scale, inspiring the development of physical and chemical
manipulation of biological systems," said Joseph M. Jacobson,
associate professor at the Media Lab and one of the paper's
authors. "Manipulation of DNA is interesting because it has been
shown recently that is has potential as an actuator (a hard drive
component) and can be used to perform computational operations."

The researchers predict that radio frequency (RF) biology will have
a broad range of applications. Because virtually all biological
molecules can be linked with gold or other semiconducting
nanoparticles, these molecules can be controlled electronically,
remotely, reversibly and precisely, said Shuguang Zhang, associate
director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering and another
author of the study. Such systems will have profound implications
for finely dissecting detailed molecular interactions and
formations, he said.

                   SINGLE-ATOM MACHINES

Jacobson, head of the Media Lab's Molecular Machine group, has a
background in quantum physics. He became interested in using
biology as a tool to create nanometer-length machines.

The ultimate goal, he said, is a single-atom or single-molecule
machine. It's hard to manufacture computer chips much smaller than
30 nanometers, but biology has an excellent track record at
creating tiny workable systems. The cell itself is a phenomenal
little machine with its own power supply and memory. "If we're
interested in molecular-scale machines, biology is a wonderful
place to start," Jacobson said. He worked with researchers from the
Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBE) to attach tiny
radio-frequency antennae—a metal nanocluster of less than 100
atoms—to DNA. When a radio-frequency magnetic field is transmitted
into the little antennae, the molecule is zapped with energy and
responds.

Hybridization is the process of joining two complementary strands
of DNA, or one each of DNA and RNA, to form a double-stranded
molecule. In dehybridization, the strands unwind. Using this
technique, the researchers dehybridized double-stranded DNA in a
matter of seconds. The switching, which is reversible, did not
affect neighboring molecules. Nanocrystals can be attached to
proteins as well as to nucleic acids.

This opens the possibility of switching more complex processes such
as enzymatic activity, biomolecular assembly, gene expression and
protein folding. The function of cells' components and the cell
life cycle itself may be electronically regulated with radio
frequency, Jacobson said. The goal is build molecules into systems
that turn on and off depending on the electronic commands they
receive.

It may one day be possible to hook the antennae into living systems
and turn genes on and off. "There are already numerous examples of
nanocrystals attached to biological systems for the purpose of
sensing," said co-author Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, a postdoctoral
associate in the MIT Media Lab. "However, we hadn't come across any
examples where they are used as a means of controlling the
biology."

"The development of molecular biology has witnessed many examples
of ways to design new tools that accelerated uncovering nature's
secrets," Zhang said. "Regulation of biomolecules using electronic
RF control represents a new dimension in biology."

The exquisitely fine electronic controls of biological regulation
will likely become more and more important in understanding complex
molecular interactions in great detail, he said, because there is
currently no other way to achieve fine local control without
disturbing neighboring molecules.  He likened the level of
communication to using a mobile phone to convey a message to a
single person in a crowd.

"Radio-frequency biology provides us with some extraordinary tools
and with unprecedented precision controls to study biomolecules and
their interactions. These new tools and technologies will
undoubtedly advance our knowledge in finest detail. It not only
opens new avenues for us to ask big and deep questions but also to
attain the ultimate answers in biology," Zhang said.

In addition to Jacobson, Hamad and Zhang, the study's authors are
John J. Schwartz, a former postdoctoral associate in the CBE who
now works for engeneOS in Waltham, and Aaron Santos (S.B. 2001).
Jacobson and Zhang also are affiliated with engeneOS, which designs
and builds programmable biomolecular devices consisting of natural
and non-natural materials for commercial applications.

This work is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) and the Media Lab's Things That Think consortium.

January 16,  2002  Tech Talk MIT