Biological computation

The term "biological computation" refers, variously, to any of the following:

- the study of the computations performed by natural biota,including the subject matter of systems biology.

- the design of algorithms inspired by the computational methods of biota

- the design and engineering of manufactured computational devices using synthetic biology components

- computer methods for the analysis of biological data, elsewhere called computational biology

When biological computation refers to using biology to build computers, it is a subfield of computer science and is distinct from the interdisciplinary science of bioinformatics which simply uses computers to better understand biology.