Move over Beethoven—scientists are composing symphonies out of your genes, and it’s not as terrifying as it sounds! Here, we dive into the delightful (and slightly bonkers) world of biomolecular music, where researchers turn DNA into melodies and make molecules sing. Yes, you heard that right—your genetic code could be a chart-topping hit.

Let’s start with Dr. David Deamer (yes! the same guy who pioneered nanopore sequencing), a biomolecular engineer at UCSC who moonlights as a pianist. Back in the 1980s, Deamer had a lightbulb moment while chatting with a colleague. He realized that three of the four DNA bases—A, G, and C—already shared names with musical notes. Convenient, right? For the oddball “T,” he assigned the note “E” (because why not?), and voilà! DNA was now a playable melody (check out his amazing 2007 Wonderfest lecture!). Armed with a piano and an incurable curiosity, Deamer composed DNA Suite, a cassette filled with tunes derived from human insulin genes and bacterial DNA sequences (listen here). It’s like Spotify for the molecularly inclined. 

Fast forward to the 2020s, and the DNA music scene is alive and thriving, thanks to innovators like Dr. Mark Temple from Western Sydney University. Temple isn’t just assigning notes to DNA; he’s turning the COVID-19 genome into a full-blown audio-visual experience. His Coronavirus Sonification Project transforms viral data into real-time soundscapes, making the pandemic… well, audibly surreal (check it out!).

But wait, there’s more! Over at MIT, Dr. Markus J. Buehler is taking molecular music to the next level. Instead of DNA, Buehler focuses on proteins, crafting hauntingly beautiful compositions from their amino acid sequences. His SoundCloud page is a goldmine for anyone curious about what spider silk or collagen might sound like (here's the link). Buehler’s work goes beyond novelty. By translating protein structures into sound, researchers can detect patterns and anomalies more easily—basically using their ears to decode biology. It’s science and art in perfect harmony.

Inspired by these pioneers, here's my humble attempt to introduce biomolecular music to beginners with an accessible and customizable tool. The code I developed transforms amino acid sequences into melodies, crafting what I call a "protein symphony", Each amino acid is mapped to a unique frequency in Hertz (Hz) based on its chemical properties—nonpolar, polar, aromatic, or charged. For instance, glycine (G) resonates at 783 Hz, while phenylalanine (F) at 698 Hz. These mappings are fully customizable, allowing users to experiment with their own soundscapes. Users can input an amino acid sequence alongside parameters like note duration, tempo, and sample rate to shape the melody's rhythm, pace, and tonal quality. Using sine waves—mathematical representations of pure sound—the program generates individual tones for each amino acid, with user-defined durations and tempos dictating the song's flow. These sine waves are concatenated into a continuous waveform, resulting in an auditory experience that mirrors the sequence’s molecular composition. As a default, I have used a random protein sequence and set other related parameters in a certain way (yes, cherry-picked!) to play the 'Happy Birthday' tune as a fun starting point. Now it’s your turn—let your creativity flow and experiment with real sequences to compose unique melodies. If you come up with something fascinating, please let me know!