DATE:

Friday, January 20, 2006

TITLE:

A MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR SIGNAL PROPAGATION IN NONLINEAR STOCHASTIC GENE REGULATORY NETWORKS (No. 98)

TIME:

3:30 PM

LOCATION:

GMCS-214

SPEAKER:

Ovidiu Lipan (Faculty Candidate)
Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine
Medical College of Georgia

ABSTRACT:

The aim of this talk is to present a mathematical model for signal propagation in a nonlinear stochastic gene regulatory network with applications to Systems and Synthetic Biology. The theory is based on the Master Equation for a continuous time Markov processes with discrete states. Many biological regulatory s! ystems function with molecules present in low numbers. For such systems, the Master Equation should be kept discrete and should not be replaced with a continuous approximation like the Fokker-Planck, Langevin and Omega expansion. The transition rates of the process are polynomial or rational functions in the molecule numbers to model multimerization and other molecular complex formation.
Four applications will be presented: a nonlinear connection of two linear systems, the design of a logic pulse, a molecular amplifier and the interference of three signal generators in E2F1 regulatory element. E2F1 has been implicated in the induction of apoptosis through p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways, which are important in cancer research. The gene interactions are presented using molecular diagrams that have a precise mathematical structure and retain the biological meaning of the processes.

HOST:

Peter Salamon