From Neural Networks and Biomolecular Engineering to Bioelectronics

This volume represents the fIrst of a series of proceedings of the EL.B.A. Forum on Bioelectronics, a scientifIc discipline at the frontiers of Advanced Electronics and Biotechnology. The name for these forums derives not only from the place (the Isle of Elba in Italy), where the conferences have been held every 6 months since 1991, but also from an acronym: Electronics and Biotechnology Advanced. Bioelectronics is intended as "the use of biological materials and biological architectures for information processing and sensing systems and devices down to molecular level" and focuses its attention on three major areas: I New hardware architectures borrowed from the thorough study of brain and sensory systems down to the molecular level, utilizing existing semiconductor inorganic materials (both GaAs and Si) and giga-scale integration; II Protein Engineering, especially of systems involved in electron transfer and molecular recognition, integrated with Metabolism and Chemical Engineering, to develop new biomaterials by learning basic rules of macromolecular folding and self-assembly; m Sensors, thin film and electronic devices utilizing organic compounds and biopolymers, and by implementing nanotechnology bottom up through manufacturing and characterization at the atomic level.