Molecular level signal processing

Seminario JM, Yan L, Ma Y (2005) Scenarios for molecular-level signal processing. Proc IEEE 93 1753-1764... 

It is very important that such molecular-level motions are accompanied by changes of some chemical or physical property of the system, resulting in a readout signal that can be used to monitor the operation of the machine. The reversibility of the movement ie, the possibility to restore the initial situation by means of an opposite stimulus, is an essential feature of a molecular machine. Since such induced motions correspond to a binary logic systems of this kind could also prove useful for information processing. 

Molecular programming points to a molecular information science, molecular informatics and semiochemistry (see Section 8.5) involving information and signal processing and communication at the molecular and supramolecular levels (see also Section 2.1). The design of molecular information dependent, instructed and functional self-organizing systems reveals new horizons in supramolecular chemistry. 

Differentiation is the developmental process by which early pluripotent cells acquire the features of late-stage, mature cells such as neurons, hepatocytes, or heart muscle cells. Currently, few examples of devised, highly selective, and efficient conditions for stem cell differentiation into specific homogeneous cell types have been reported because of a lack of understanding of stem cell signaling at the molecular level. Small-molecule phenotypic screens provide another means to generate desired cell types in a controlled manner. Several small molecules have been identified by this method that modulate specific differentiation pathways of embryonic or adult stem cells. 

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