A hardware demonstration of a universal programmable RRAM-based probabilistic computer for molecular docking

Molecular docking is a critical computational strategy in drug discovery, but the diversity of biomolecular structures and flexible binding conformations create an enormous search space that challenges conventional computing. Quantum computing holds promise but remains constrained by scalability, hardware limitations, and precision issues. Here, we report a probabilistic computer (p-computer) prototype that solves complex molecular docking. The system is built upon artificial probabilistic bits (p-bits), fabricated in 180 nm CMOS with BEOL HfO₂ RRAM and compatible with compute-in-memory (CIM) schemes. A key innovation is the integration of Gaussian Random Number Generator-based p-bits with CIM, where the sigmoidal response arises from the Gaussian cumulative distribution function with coupling and bias coefficients directly encoded in the RRAM crossbar. This co-design alleviates the memory-to-compute bottleneck of prior CMOS-only and CMOS + X (emerging nanodevices) p-computers. Using this architecture, we experimentally solved a 42-node docking problem of lipoprotein with the LolA-LolCDE complex-a key target in developing antibiotics against Gram-negative bacteria, with results consistent with the Protein-Ligand Interaction Profiler tool. This work represents an early hardware application of p-computing in computational biology and demonstrates its potential to overcome the success rate and efficiency limitations of current technologies for complex bioinformatics problems.