Keynote 3: Computing with Membranes: An Overview

Membrane computing is a branch of molecular computing that aims to develop models and paradigms that are biologically motivated. It identifies an unconventional computing model, namely a P system, which abstracts from the way living cells process chemical compounds in their compartmental structure. P systems are a class of distributed maximally parallel computing devices of a biochemical type. We present an overview of the area and discuss recent results that answer some interesting and fundamental open questions concerning these systems.