Is Design of New Drugs a Challenge for Kinematics

The systematic study of kinematics can be traced to the writings of the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans and Persians as far back as 500 B.C.. For many centuries kinematics (along with geometry) was regarded as one of the basic sciences that explained observed physical phenomena, and was used to engineer machines. Though it may seem unlikely, today a valid claim may be that: kinematics (and in particular robot kinematics) is one of the disciplines that can significantly contribute to the understanding of the function of the biological systems at the microscopic level, and can be utilized to engineer new diagnostic tools, treatments and drugs for various diseases. Given the vast body of knowledge in the theoretical, applied and analytical kinematics and robotics, the obvious absence of the kinematics community and their contribution in the field of protein fold prediction, protein docking, protein engineering and drug design is puzzling. In this paper we will discuss these potential areas and challenges in biotechnology that might be pertinent and of interest to the kinematics and robotics research community.