Computing with Cells : Advances in Membrane Computing

Membrane systems are a new class of distributed and parallel model of computation inspired by the subdivision of living cells into compartments delimited by membranes. Their hierarchal internal structure, their locality of interactions, their inherent parallelism and also their capacity to create new compartments, represent the distinguishing hallmarks of membrane systems.

Membrane computing, the study of membrane systems, is a fascinating and fast growing area of research. The main streams of current investigations in Membrane Computing concern theoretical computer science and the modeling of complex systems. In this monograph, Pierluigi Frisco considers the former trend: he presents an in-depth study of the formal language and computational complexity aspects of the most widely investigated models of membrane systems.

The study gives a comprehensive understanding of the computational power of the models considered, shows different proof techniques used for each study, and introduces links highlighting the similarities and differences between their computational power. These models cover a broad range of features, giving a grasp of the enormous flexibility of the framework offered by membrane systems.

Dr. P. Frisco graduated in Computer Science in 1997 at the Università degli studi di Milano (Italy) following a thesis in the field of Molecular Computing. After graduating he worked as software developer. In 1998 he obtained a two-year scholarship for a stay at the Leiden Institute for Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Universiteit Leiden (The Netherlands). In 2000 he became a PhD student in this institute. In June 2004 he successfully completed his PhD thesis titled: `Theory of Molecular Computing - Splicing and Membrane Systems'. In September of the same year he was appointed lecturer at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Exeter. In March 2006 he was appointed lecturer at the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, where he currently works.