Computational Nature of Processes Induced by Biochemical Reactions

Natural computing is concerned with human-designed computing inspired by nature as well as with computations taking place in nature, i.e., it investigates phenomena taking place in nature in terms of information processing. Well-known examples of the first strand of research are evolutionary computing, neural computation, cellular automata, swarm intelligence, molecular computing, quantum computation, artificial immune systems, and membrane computing. Examples of research themes from the second strand of research are computational nature of self-assembly, computational nature of developmental processes, computational nature of bacterial communication, computational nature of brain processes, computational nature of biochemical reactions, and system biology approach to bionetworks. While progress in the first line of research often contributes to important progress in Information and Communication Technology (ITC), advances in the second line of research often remind the general scientific community that computer science is also the fundamental science of information processing, and as such a basic science for other scientific disciplines such as, e.g., biology.