Fighting $pam with DNA power

An article in New Scientist describes how researches at the IBM Bioinformatics Center have repurposed the sophisticated pattern-recognition filter used in genetic analysis to keep all the v1@gra and X@N.ax solicitations out of our inboxes. Of course, it's early in the game, but any chance to say "take that spammers" should be cherished.

Could the advanced algorithms and techniques originally developed to analyze DNA sequences provide breakthrough tools in other industries, ala 60's space race?