Computer-Assisted Design isn't just for Mechanical Engineers. Designing and creating certain molecules, biological compounds - even organs are now possible, and CAD is needed more and more. In the same way FEA is used to calculate how parts work together, biologists use computers to calculate how compounds interact with each other to perfect their design. Proteins fit into one another the same way a key into a keyhole, just on a different scale.
Right now, there isn't a great deal of software for many people to experiment with biology in a CAD environment. There is GenoCAD, an open-source program that allows you to design molecules and synthetic proteins. The coolest thing you can do is create DNA with particular 'grammar rules' so that it can create certain chemicals, enzymes and proteins. After all, DNA is just 'a recipe' and can be used like Excel is used for parametric CAD. GenoCAD is made up of library of different DNA strands and genes, the same sort of library we have in GrabCAD. It's small, but fascinating. And once you've lined up your genes, you can simulate the results. It's best to simulate your lifeform because you unleash it upon the natural world.
One article in the AAAS journal Science agreed that CAD techniques in engineering were becoming very useful for biological engineering.
As with other engineering disciplines, CAD tools for simulating and designing global functions based upon local component behaviors are essential for constructing complex biological devices and systems. However, until this work, CAD-type models and simulation tools for biology have been very limited. [According to the lead author] “We’ve applied generalizable engineering strategies for managing functional complexity to develop CAD-type simulation and modeling tools for designing RNA-based genetic control systems. Ultimately we’d like to develop CAD platforms for synthetic biology that rival the tools found in more established engineering disciplines, and we see this work as an important technical and conceptual step in that direction.”
Source: "Model-Driven Engineering of RNA Devices to Quantitatively Program Gene Expression" by Carothers et al.
Whatever CAD software exists, they're pretty useless unless you can create something physical with it. 3D printing of organs and prothesis is exploding right now. Universities, companies and research groups are busy experimenting with different techniques to create the organs people desperately need in hospitals everywhere. Every need is unique, and there exists the risk of rejection by the body. With the advent of stem cells, it's possible to utilize layer-by-layer deposition techniques of 3D printing to create your own organ.
UPenn perfected a way to create scaffolding for cells to grow on and turn into veins and artery. Anthony Atala and his team have successfully printed and transplanted a bladder for a sickly child. Just recently researchers out of UC San Diego managed to 'nano-engineer' with very precise Stereolithography techniques the vascular systems that are necessary to transport oxygen to the cells. Now it's very likely that the demand for qualified CAD experts are going to be needed to design these organs. Instead designing of pistons, perhaps legs? Or instead of headlights, maybe eyes? It's a serious manner, because there is a massive shortage of donated organs everywhere - it's a problem in desperate need of a solution.
