Dresden 2006 – scientific programme

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 26: Cellular Computation and Gene Regulation

AKB 26.1: Invited Talk

Friday, March 31, 2006, 11:00–11:30, ZEU 255

The physics of cellular computation — •Pieter Rein ten Wolde — FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF), Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Gene regulatory networks are the central processing units of life. They orchestrate cell development, control the cell cycle and allow the cell to integrate different signals and thereby allow the cell to recognize patters in, for instance, the food supply of the organism. While gene regulatory networks can perform computations analogous to electronic circuits, their design principles are markedly different. We use database analyses, theory and computer simulations to unravel the design principles of gene regulatory networks. We show that the molecular character of the components makes gene regulatory networks intrinsically stochastic and thus prone to biochemical noise, yet also allow them to process information in a very sophisticated manner.