Gender	Male
E-mail	carter.bancroft@mssm.edu
Education and Training	Ph.D., University of California
	Postdoctoral Training, Harvard Medical School
	Postdoctoral Training, Brandeis University

Education and Training	Ph.D., University of California
	Postdoctoral Training, Harvard Medical School
	Postdoctoral Training, Brandeis University

We have employed a molecular approach for studies in the area of of Biologically-Inspired DNA Technologies:

(1) Biologically Inspired DNA Technologies.

(2) Characterization of a Novel Gene Product, PREB.

Biologically Inspired DNA-Based Technologies. We are investigating technological, non-biological uses of the biological informational molecule DNA. The long-term goal of this project is to invent and develop novel technologies that take advantage of the special properties of DNA (in particular the ability of complementary DNA strands to form very specific hybrids). Our work on various DNA-based technologies is described below:

DNA-Based Computation. The original DNA-based technology was computation, involving design and implementation of algorithms for using DNA and its associated enzymes to carry out certain operations more powerfully than silicone-based computers. In our major work in this area, we have previously designed and implemented biochemically an algorithm for employing DNA to add any two rational numbers (Guarnieri et al, 1996).

DNA-Based Steganography. More recently, we have developed a DNA-based technology in another area: cryptography. Our procedure is a DNA-based form of a type of cryptography that we term DNA-based steganography (Clelland et al, 1999). In steganography, a message is kept secret not by encryption, but by concealment. In our procedure (Clelland et al, 1999), we first construct a secret-message DNA strand (SM DNA) containing a message encoded in DNA, flanked by primer sequences (DNA "tags") known only to the sender and the intended recipient. The SM DNA strand is then concealed within the enormous complexity of fragmented human genomic DNA, and is further concealed by confining this mixture to a microdot placed over a period in a letter. The secret message can be read only by the intended recipient, who knows where to find the microdot, and can then employ knowledge of the primer sequences to specifically PCR-amplify the secret message DNA strand. We believe that DNA-based steganography represents an "intractable" biochemical problem, which is highly resistant to cryptanalysis via either computer-based (including quantum computation) or biochemical techniques.

Counterfeit-Resistant DNA-Based Authentication. We have extended the concept of DNA-based steganography to the development of a technique for producing highly counterfeit-resistant authentication of various types of valuable objects (e.g., documents, designer clothing, and solids or liquids) ( Bancroft and Clelland, US Patent 6,312,911).

Long-Term Storage of Information in DNA. More recently, we have carried out a project whose goal is precisely complementary to that of DNA-based steganography: the development and prototype execution of a technique for long-term storage of information in DNA (Bancroft et al, 2001). The aim of the DNA-based steganography and authentication techniques described above is to keep a secret message or authentication code hidden from adversaries. By contrast, our more recent work is directed to the use of DNA as a medium for the preservation of information about our culture, in a form that will permit ready retrieval and interpretation centuries or millennia in the future. Central to our procedure is the use of two classes of DNA: information DNAs (iDNAs) containing the stored information, and a polyprimer key to the recovery of the information in the iDNAs ( Bancroft et al, 2001).

Lubin AA, Fan C, Schafer M, Clelland CT, Bancroft C, Heeger AJ, Plaxco KW. Rapid Electronic Detection of DNA and Nonnatural DNA Analogs for Molecular Marking Applications. Forensic Science Communications. Forensic Science Communications 2008; 10(1).

Ohtsuka S, Murao K, Imachi H, Cao WM, Yu X, Li J, Iwama H, Wong NW, Bancroft C, Ishida T. Prolactin regulatory element binding protein as a potential transcriptional factor for the insulin gene in response to glucose stimulation. Diabetologica 2006; 49: 1599-1607.

Bancroft C, Bloom B. Long-term Storage of Information in DNA. Science 2001 September; 293(5536): 1763-1765.

Clelland C, Craciun L, Bancroft C, Lufkin T. Mapping and developmental expression analysis of the WD-repeat gene Preb. Genomics 2000 Feb; 63(3): 391-9.

Bloom B, Bancroft C. Liposome mediated biomolecular computation. In: Winfree E, Gifford DK, editors. DNA Based Computers V. Providence, American Mathematical Society, DIMACS ; 2000.

Fliss MS, Hinkle PM, Bancroft C. Expression Cloning and Characterization of PREB, a Novel WD Motif DNA-binding Protein with a Capacity to Regulate Prolactin Promoter Activity. Mol Endocrinol 1999 Apr; 13(4): 644-657.

Guarnieri F, Orlian M, Bancroft C. Parallel operations in DNA-based computation. In: Rubin H, Harlan Wood D, editors. DNA Based Computers III. Providence, American Mathematical Society, DIMACS; 1999. pp85-100.

Clelland C, Risca V, Bancroft C. Hiding messages in DNA microdots. Nature 1999 Jun 10 399(6736):533-4.

Guarnieri F, Fliss M, Bancroft C. Making DNA add. Science 1996 Jul; 273(5272): 220-3.