Toward Interdisciplinary Synergies in Molecular Communications: Perspectives from Synthetic Biology, Nanotechnology, Communications Engineering and Philosophy of Science
Malcolm Egan,
Murat Kuscu,
Michael Taynnan Barros,
Michael Booth,
Antoni Llopis-Lorente,
Maurizio Magarini,
Daniel P. Martins,
Maximilian Schäfer,
Pasquale Stano
Affiliations
Malcolm Egan
Univ Lyon, INSA Lyon, INRIA, CITI, 69621 Villeurbanne, France
Murat Kuscu
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Koç University, Istanbul 34450, Turkey
Michael Taynnan Barros
School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK
Michael Booth
Department of Chemistry, University College London (UCL), London WC1H 0AJ, UK
Antoni Llopis-Lorente
Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigación de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnológico (IDM), CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, 46022 València, Spain
Maurizio Magarini
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB), Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Daniel P. Martins
Walton Institute for Information and Communication Systems Science, South East Technological University (SETU), X91 P20H Waterford, Ireland
Maximilian Schäfer
Institute for Digital Communications, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Pasquale Stano
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (DiSTeBA), University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Within many chemical and biological systems, both synthetic and natural, communication via chemical messengers is widely viewed as a key feature. Often known as molecular communication, such communication has been a concern in the fields of synthetic biologists, nanotechnologists, communications engineers, and philosophers of science. However, interactions between these fields are currently limited. Nevertheless, the fact that the same basic phenomenon is studied by all of these fields raises the question of whether there are unexploited interdisciplinary synergies. In this paper, we summarize the perspectives of each field on molecular communications, highlight potential synergies, discuss ongoing challenges to exploit these synergies, and present future perspectives for interdisciplinary efforts in this area.
