Molecular computing
is an emerging field to which chemistry, biophysics, molecular biology,
electronic engineering, solid state physics and computer science contribute to
a large extent. It involves the encoding, manipulation and retrieval of
information at a macromolecular level in contrast to the current techniques,
which accomplish the above functions via 1C miniaturization of bulk devices.
The biological systems have unique abilities such as pattern recognition,
learning, self-assembly and self-reproduction as well as high speed and
parallel information processing. The aim of this article is to exploit these
characteristics to build computing systems, which have many advantages over
their inorganic counterparts.
DNA computing began
in 1994 when Leonard Adleman proved that DNA computing was possible by finding
a solution to a real- problem, a Hamiltonian Path Problem, known to us as the
Traveling Salesman Problem, with a molecular computer. In theoretical terms, some
scientists say the actual beginnings of DNA computation should be attributed to
Charles Bennett's work.
Adleman, now
considered the father of DNA computing, is a professor at the University of
Southern California and spawned the field with his paper, "Molecular
Computation of Solutions of Combinatorial Problems." Since then, Adleman
has demonstrated how the massive parallelism of a trillion DNA strands can
simultaneously attack different aspects of a computation to crack even the
toughest combinatorial problems.
Biomolecular
computers have the real potential for solving problems of high computational
complexities and therefore, many problems are still associated with this field.
The difficulty of devising an interface is therefore the sensitive dependence
on a biological environment, susceptibility to degradation, senescence and
infection, etc. Nevertheless, it offers the best approach to human cognitive
equivalence. But like any radically new technology, there is a daunting
learning and manufacturing curve that must first be overcome before these
molecular devices can find a practical use in everyday life. They are still
five to ten years away from becoming a commercial reality.
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