Sequencing

• Modern DNA sequencing techniques use automation to help speed up the process and make it less laborious for researchers. Lasers and sophisticated dyeing techniques are used to help computers interpret sequences of DNA. These automated DNA sequencing techniques are not as accurate as manual interpretation by a human, but they are sufficiently accurate for sequencing large batches of data, and more importantly, they free up researchers to do other, less tedious work.
  
  

Presentation

• The human genome contains 3 billion base pairs that are divided in to 46 different chromosomes. This huge amount of data is impossible to store or manipulate in any meaningful way without computers to store the results. Computers are also used to present the data and to make it meaningful. The website 23andme (see Resources), for instance, sequences customer's DNA and stores it for them on computers, allowing them to compare their DNA to others, and to see how their DNA relates to genetic research on a number of different topics.
  
  

Searching

• Computers have been integral to the study of DNA because they allow for automated searching through the 3 billion base pairs that human DNA contains. The power of computers has allowed for sophisticated techniques to be developed to search for meaningful information in DNA data. Comparison of DNA data, for instance, allows researchers to try to correlate specific DNA base pairs to conditions or traits that get expressed by humans. Discoveries like a gene that determines to what degree a person metabolizes coffee are possible because of DNA searching techniques.
  
  

Artificial Genetics

• Another use for computers in the study of DNA is the creation of artificial life. Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute have pioneered the creation of genetic life via artificial genetic material, created and synthesized by the researchers. The technology is very new, but it is a fascinating area of research in which computers play an integral role. Because of the size of this artificial life, which consisted of over 1 million base pairs in the initial research, computers are integral to helping design the life form and automate the construction process.