DAILY TELEGRAPH

by Roger Highfield

Science Editor

The possibility of a "living" computer is to be discussed this week at a meeting of scientists from around the world in the wake of the growing realisation that the molecules of which we are made can do calculations.

Scientists from 20 countries are gathering in liverpool for a series of workshops that begin tomorrow on information processing in biology and computers, organised by Dr. Ray Paton of Liverpool University.

Many proteins in cells have as their primary function the transfer and processing of information, rather than carrying out chemical reactions or buliding chemical reactions or building chemical structures, it has been discovered.

Now 80 computer scientists and biologists hope to learn from the cells of our bodies how to refine the desgin of computers, said Dr. Paton, whose team is attempting to understand how cells carry out computations by simulating the complex interactions of their components, notably enzymes, in a computer.

In othe work, Professor Leonard Adleman, of the University of Southern California, has not only shown that it is possible to carry out computations using molecules but underscored this point by using DNA, the genetic code found in every cell in the body.

This research will also help scientists to understand the way cells respond like little computers to signals, that is, the enzymes and proteins released by neighbouring cells. This in turn will cast light on a range of processes, from the development of an embryo to diseases such as cancer.

"From its early beginnings, computing has been greatly influenced by the biosciences", said Dr. Paton.