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Exploring biological systems for computing

Living matter also performs computation. Recent years have featured a rise in the exploration of the inherent information processing capabilities of biological material as a foundation for computing systems. Biocomputing is the use of biological components, such as DNA, proteins, and cells, to perform calculations, similar to a traditional computer, but on a molecular scale. This technique offers an entirely new way of encoding and processing information, yielding some improved capabilities compared to traditional architectures, such as massive parallelism and energy efficiency. Although still an experimental field with technical challenges to be overcome (e.g., speed, scalability), research related to biocomputing is expected to continue, with this approach getting closer to real-world applications, especially in healthcare, in the next decades.

Impact

education

Education

  • Cross-disciplinary talent skilled in both computing and biology is likely to increase in demand. This necessitates the development of new or extension of existing curricula for students in scientific disciplines benefitting from biocomputing to acquire this hybrid skillset. Computers using biological circuits may also emerge as hands-on teaching tools to illustrate the principles governing biocomputing.
Research

Research

  • Once the current efficiency and scalability issues are overcome, researchers might be able to access local and/or national IT infrastructure working following the principles of biocomputing. This will be beneficial to a variety of research use cases in different scientific areas, such as drug discovery, disease diagnosis, and ecology.
Operations

Operations

  • The shift towards biocomputing might necessitate IT infrastructure upgrades and require (research support) organisations to re-evaluate operational processes to handle biocomputers. This requires staff skilled in working with biological systems and/or possible reliance on external parties/organisations specialised in working with biocomputers.
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