Blockchain Biology

Abstract

Despite its implementation in many industries, blockchain has never been harnessed to directly study biological mechanisms. Current uses of blockchain technology in biology and medicine has been limited to peripheral applications such as storing sequencing data or preventing tampering of clinical trial data. Although longstanding problems in computational biology mirror those addressed by blockchain, the technology has never been exploited to answer fundamental biological questions. Proposed here is a conceptual framework for employing blockchain technology to probe biological mechanisms. How principles of decentralization, synchronicity, immutability, and contracts can be utilized for cancer evolution and synthetic biology are explored.