DNA computing has the potential to perform trillions of calculations at once and the size and the ease of interfacing with living material may make them ideal for use in medicine. But bio-molecular computers must await a breakthrough in designer enzymes.

Biologically-inspired computing could soon form the basis of new devices with the potential to perform trillions of calculations at once.

“The ultimate application would be a ‘doctor in a cell,’ where a bio-molecular computer operates in the body,” Udi Shapiro of the Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science told CNN.