Virtual prototyping for Biosystems: a SPICY challenge

During the last decade, many applications at the interface between electronics and biotechnologies have emerged (biosensors, bioMEMS, lab-on-chip, etc.). The efficient design of such systems requires dedicated CAD tools. One way to achieve them is to extend existing design flow of electronics and to biochemical models. The solution suggested in this paper is a description language for biological systems. The description is a text file which looks like a netlist. It can then be translated directly into a SPICE equivalent model. The process is tested and validated on about twenty biological models from the literature. Moreover, the coupling between biological models generated by the tool and existing electronic device models is also demonstrated on the design of a penicillin sensor.