Foreword

The present special issue contains a selection of extended versions of papers presented in the 12th International Meeting on DNA Computing, held on June 5–9 in 2006, in Seoul, Korea. Since the first meeting held in Princeton in 1995, this international meeting has been providing a unique forum for scientists from multidisciplinary backgrounds to assemble and exchange their ideas and latest results, toward the final common goal of developing DNA based computing devices. The 12th meeting resulted in a great success, and we enjoyed all programs within an excellent organization and pleasant atmosphere supported by the organizing committee. We would specially like to thank Prof. ByoungTak Zhang, the committee chair. We are pleased to present in this issue nine papers that are extended and enhanced versions of selected papers presented at the meeting. The nine papers range from purely theoretical study of molecular computing models to intensive analysis of experimental nature. The first five papers are devoted to theoretical studies and the next four papers reports new results on recent developments in experimental research. The following are brief introduction of those selected nine papers.