Speaking on the emerging field of molecular communication was Dr.
Sasitharan Balasubramaniam of Nano Communication Centre, Department of
Electronic and Communication Engineering, Tampere University of
Technology, Tampere, Finland, while delivering a talk on “Molecular
Communication and the Future Perspectives on the Internet of Bio-Nano
Things,” on 19 August 2015.
Dr. Sasitharan stated that research is underway to use nanomachines to
treat cancer. “Instead of chemotherapy, these nanomachines can deliver
drugs to targeted areas, and this cuts the dosage by about 1000 times,”
Dr. Sasitharan added.
Bacteria-based nanomachines are a hot topic of research, since
bacteria have been found at heights of 30,000 feet above land, as well
as depths ranging up to 1900 feet below sea level. Motility makes
bacteria a useful asset, particularly their swimming, swarming,
twitching, gliding and sliding abilities. However, their inability to
adjust to the environment is a challenge that researchers are trying to
overcome.
Adding that research in molecular communication is a recent
development, having emerged in 2010-2011, the subject area is also
expanding to other fields like biological sensor networks, food
toxicity and environmental monitoring. Similarly, creating an Internet
of Bio-Nano Things and Body Area Networks (BAN) makes it a very
exciting field.
Earlier, Dr. Matthew Dailey of Computer Science and Information
Management (CSIM), while introducing Dr. Sasitharan informed the
audience that the speaker had spent a considerable part of his
childhood at AIT, where his father served for 27 years as a faculty
member.
