DNA Computing
In the last ten years non conventional computing techniques have produced increasing interest in the research world bringing innovations and new foresights on classical problems, especially on those estimated unsolvable by means of conventional machines. The idea of the DNA Computing is to use DNA strands to encode an input problem, and to obtain the output by manipulating them with biological laboratory experiments.
DNA computing takes advantage of the enormous potentiality of the DNA molecules which allow to derive computational benefit from billions of microscopic processors layered in an extremely small spaces. The fundamental novelty of this approach is indeed based on the idea of finding an essentially new type of computer – sometimes called “wet computer”- whose great promise is to solve hard problems in a feasible time making use of massive parallelism. This last feature is intrinsically associated with the very compact way of storing information on DNA molecules since bits at the molecular level can be stored with a relevant order of efficiency over silicon supports. In this way, billions of “computing chips” can be accommodated in a tiny test tube, much more than on silicon, allowing to simulate the so longed non-determinism. Moreover, the possible “DNA computer” also presents other attractive features such as energy efficiency, stability, reversibility, and evolvability.
Our attention is now focused on the implementation of molecular algorithms, based on biochemical operations, with the aim to simulate the behaviour of logic gates and sequential circuits that could replicate the action of conventional architectures yet overcoming limitations imposed by silicon technology. The advantages and the perspectives of these novel architectures concern the possibility to accomplish logical, mathematical and computational operations without incurr in difficulties and constraints typically associated with conventional computers. For this reason some prototypes have been implemented in order to improve biologists and computer scientists to simulate in vitro computations.
Next step will be to explore the possibility to design and implement molecular algorithms that simulate a complex hardware architecture equipped with a composite memorization system as well as a bus structure and a I/O schemata. The final aim of such a research should be the realization of a “bio-machine” able to handle the representation and the management of real data.
Contacts
Address: Dipartimento di Informatica ed Applicazioni "R. M. Capocelli"
Università degli Studi di Salerno
Via Ponte don Melillo - 84084 Fisciano, Salerno (Italy).
email: iaccarino[@]dia[.]unisa[.]it (without [] antispam)
