Helio

                       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.