That could open the door to dreamed-of applications such as artificial vision systems and computers that can understand speech and recognize faces. While some scientists are busily trying to mimic nature's wiring schematics, others seek a merger. Indeed, some believe the information-processing and storage capabilities of organic molecules are superior to anything man is able to create out of silicon alone. At the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, a physicist named K.P.J. Reddy is developing a biochip that would use a protein found in bacteria as a digital storage medium. Reddy, a laser specialist in the institute's aerospace engineering department, reasons that by flashing protein molecules with red and green laser light, he can switch them on and off in a biological representation of the digital ones and zeros used to store data on ordinary memory chips.
Any real breakthroughs are likely to be years away.
The practicality of using organic material in electronic devices has yet to be demonstrated. Reddy's protein molecules are inert and can function for more than 20 years when bound together with polymers. But to achieve the proper purity and uniformity necessary for reliable operation, biochip production might have to take place under zero-gravity conditions, Reddy reasons. Even more ambitious biochip research programs are underway in the U.S. and Israel. The process whereby DNA synthesizes protein involves the storage and retrieval of millions of bits of data.