"My guess is that the window for DNA computing will close fairly soon, " says Bell Labs' Yurke.

FORBES: DNA May Make Computers, Not Run Them

He is working with microbiologists from the University of Colorado, US, on ways to use ciliates for real DNA computing.

BBC: Processing power of single cells

Instead, Yurke says that research into DNA computing could lead to new ways of using nature's toolbox to make conventional electronic computers smaller, faster and more powerful.

FORBES: DNA May Make Computers, Not Run Them

Rather than find new techniques to carry out DNA computing, Dr Rozenberg believes that harnessing the information processing abilities of living organisms to tackle tricky computational problems could be more fruitful.

BBC: Processing power of single cells

The field of DNA computing was kicked off in 1994 when Leonard Adleman used strands of DNA to solve a simple example of a mathematical conundrum known as the Travelling Salesman Problem.

BBC: Processing power of single cells

"My guess is that the window for DNA computing will close fairly soon, " says Bernard Yurke , a researcher at Lucent's (nyse: LU - news - people) Bell Labs, who built a DNA adding machine.

FORBES: DNA May Make Computers, Not Run Them

In what appears to be an early proof-of-concept for DNA computing, scientists at Columbia University and the University of New Mexico have created a basic computer, called the MAYA-II, which has a molecular array of YES and AND logic gates made up of 100 DNA circuits.

ENGADGET: Meet MAYA-II, the new DNA computer that can play Tic-Tac-Toe

At the time, using DNA as the next computing platform seemed appealing.

FORBES: DNA May Make Computers, Not Run Them

Watson and Francis Crick's description of DNA's double-helix structure, and in computing, with Jack Kilby's and Bob Noyce's independent inventions of the integrated circuit.

FORBES: Magazine Article