Introduction: A survey of proteins in nanobioelectronics
The idea of using proteins to assemble hybrid electronic devices stems from
molecular electronics [1] and, as such, it is intimately connected with the
advent of nanosciences and nanotechnologies, dating back to the early 1990s.
Since then, much technological effort but less scientific effort has been
deployed to try to implement devices that take advantage of the peculiar
features of proteins.
A technologist’s standpoint is that of regarding proteins as
self-contained, nanometer-sized functional units, highly specialized and
efficient in performing a certain functional task. Their efficiency is
traced back to the fact that, being active parts of living beings, proteins
are taking advantage of billions of years of natural evolution in
specializing towards a given activity.
This way of thinking, which one can often encounter in ritten or spoken
accounts, appears to be questionable in light of a rather less naïve
understanding of the theory of evolution, but is perhaps a good enough
starting point to understand the historical motivations which led to the
remarkable interest of a interdisciplinary part of the scientific community
in the use of proteins for assembling electronic devices.
The other aspect motivating the interest in proteins as elements in
electronic circuits is their size.