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SUMMARY:Biocomputation with Motile Agents in Networks - Professor Dan V Ni
 colau\, McGill University
DTSTART:20250516T130000Z
DTEND:20250516T140000Z
UID:TALK231013@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:46601
DESCRIPTION:Abstract\nThe solution space of Non-deterministic Polynomial (
 NP) complete problems grows exponentially with input size. Consequently\, 
 large NP complete problems cannot be solved in an acceptable time by fast\
 , but sequential electronic computers\, nor presently by alternative\, par
 allel computing approaches. Here\, we report that the bacterial exploratio
 n of microfluidic networks that encode instances of the Subset Sum Problem
  (SSP) is equivalent to solving this NP-complete problem. Significantly\, 
 the ability of bacteria to multiply in confined environments translates in
  the amplification of the computational parallelism\, with computing resou
 rces growing naturally to match the size of a given combinatorial problem.
  A scaling analysis of the time needed by bacteria to solve SSP problems e
 ncoded in microfluidic networks identifies the point where they are theore
 tically expected to outperform fast solid-state computers. These results\,
  namely massively parallel\, design-driven low error operation\, low energ
 y requirement for computing\, and exponentially growing computing resource
 s\, suggest that bacterial-driven biocomputation on networks holds the pot
 ential to scale up successfully.\n\n
LOCATION:Oatley 1 Meeting Room\, Department of Engineering
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