Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation.
Development of the ability to design protein molecules will open a path to the fabrication of devices to complex atomic specifications, thus sidestepping obstacles facing conventional microtechnology. This path will involve construction of molecular machinery able to position reactive groups to atomic precision. It could lead to great advances in computational devices and in the ability to manipulate biological materials. The existence of this path has implications for the present.
Space Systems Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139.
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Drexler