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Bio Computing

Biocomputers use biological molecules like DNA and proteins to store, retrieve, and process data computationally. There are three main types: biochemical computers use feedback loops in biological chemical reactions, biomechanical computers interpret the shape molecules adopt under conditions as output, and bioelectronic computers measure electrical conductivity of designed biomolecules. While still less capable than regular computers, biocomputers have potential for improved computing abilities and economical self-replication of necessary components.

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Radhika Malpani
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64 views

Bio Computing

Biocomputers use biological molecules like DNA and proteins to store, retrieve, and process data computationally. There are three main types: biochemical computers use feedback loops in biological chemical reactions, biomechanical computers interpret the shape molecules adopt under conditions as output, and bioelectronic computers measure electrical conductivity of designed biomolecules. While still less capable than regular computers, biocomputers have potential for improved computing abilities and economical self-replication of necessary components.

Uploaded by

Radhika Malpani
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Biocomputing

Renuka gaikwad. Radhika malpani. [email protected]

Abstract:
Biocomputers use systems of biologically derived molecules, such as DNA and proteins to perform computational calculation involving storing, retrieving, and processing data. The development of biocomputers has been made possible by the expanding new science of nanobiotechnology. The term nanobiotechnology can be defined in multiple ways; in a more general sense, nanobiotechnology can be defined as any type of technology that uses both nano-scale materials, i.e. materials having characteristic dimensions of 1-100nanoparameter, as well as biologically based materials

Introduction
Biocomputers use biologically derived materials to perform computational functions. A biocomputer consists of a pathway or series of metabolic pathways involving biological materials that are engineered to behave in a certain manner based upon the conditions (input) of the system. The resulting pathway of reactions that takes place constitutes an output, which is based on the engineering design of the biocomputer and can be interpreted as a form of computational analysis. Three distinguishable types of biocomputers include biochemical computers, biomechanical computers, and bioelectronic computers systems take many forms, and many different factors can provide both positive and negative feedback to a particular biochemical process, causing either an increase in chemical output or a decrease in chemical output, respectively. Such factors may include the quantity of catalytic enzymes present, the amount of reactants present, the amount of products present, and the presence of molecules that bind to and thus alter the chemical reactivity of any of the aforementioned factors. Given the nature of these biochemical systems to be regulated through many different mechanisms, one can engineer a chemical pathway comprising a set of molecular components that react to produce one particular product under one set of specific chemical conditions and another particular product under another set of conditions. The presence of the particular product that results from the pathway can serve as a signal,

Biochemical computers
Biochemical computers use the immense variety of feedback loops that are characteristic of biological chemicle reaction in order to achieve computational functionality. Feedback loops in biological

which can be interpreted, along with other chemical signals, as a computational output based upon the starting chemical conditions of the system, i.e. the input.

into functional components. The economical benefit of biocomputers lies in this potential of all biologically derived systems to self-replicate and self-assemble given appropriate conditions (349). For instance, all of the necessary proteins for a certain biochemical pathway, which could be modified to serve as a biocomputer, could be synthesized many times over inside a biological cell from a single DNA molecule, which could itself be replicated many times over.

Biomechanical computers
Biomechanical computers are similar to biochemical computers in that they both perform a specific output that can be interpreted as a functional computation based upon specific initial conditions which serve as input. They differ, however, in what exactly serves as the output signal. In biochemical computers, the presence or concentration of certain chemicals serves as the output signal. In biomechanical computers, however, the mechanical shape of a specific molecule or set of molecules under a set of initial conditions serves as the output. Biomechanical computers rely on the nature of specific molecules to adopt certain physical configurations under certain chemical conditions. The mechanical, threedimensional structure of the product of the biomechanical computer is detected and interpreted appropriately as a calculated output.

Future potential of biocomputers


Many examples of simple biocomputers have been designed, but the capabilities of these biocomputers are still largely premature in comparison to commercially available non-bio computers. However, there is definitely great potential in the capabilities that biocomputers may one day acquire. Evidence of the true potential of the computing capabilities of biocomputers exists in the most powerful, complex computational machine known to currently exist: the biocomputer that is the human brain. Certainly, there is plenty of room to improve in the realm of biocomputer computational ability; one may reasonably expect the science of biocomputers to advance greatly in the years to come.

Bioelectronic computers
Biocomputers can also be constructed to perform electronic computing. Again, like both biomechanical and biochemical computers, computations are performed by interpreting a specific output that is based upon an initial set of conditions that serve as input. In bioelectronic computers, the measured output is the nature of the electrical conductivity that is observed in the bioelectronic computer, which comprises specifically designed biomolecules that conduct electricity in highly specific manners based upon the initial conditions that serve as the input of the bioelectronic system.

Referaneces:
Gary Stix. "Little Big Science." Understanding

Nanotechnology (p6-16). Scientific American, Inc, and Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc: 2002. Freitas, Robert A. Nanomedicine Volume I: Basic

Capabilities. Austin, Texas: Landes Bioscience, 1999. Ratner, Daniel and Mark. Nanotechnology: A

Economics
All biological organisms (and their chemical building blocks) have the ability to self-replicate and self-assemble

Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea. Pearson Education, Inc: 2003.

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