Links, flows and perturbations: systemic responses of biological networks

Description
The study of complex network systems behavior and the biological reformulation of well established control and communication theories in engineering, may offer new vistas to biomedical research. The key point is that engineering principles provide a bunch of possibly useful "metaphors" to researchers for a novel interpretation of biological phenomena. In fact, systems control methodologies take advantage of the presence of negative or positive feedbacks, feed-forward regulation and other control loops able to produce an appropriate system-level response. For example, the presence of a stabilizing feedback circuit can neutralize the effect of a drug by compensating the levels of the target molecule. It is therefore of paramount importance to recognize that not only the nodes of a network may be important but also the strength of its links. The relationship between kinetics and systemic responses to perturbations offers an intriguing additional dimension in which network biology strategies can be developed.
Organised by Vito Latora