Lehreinheit Technische Kybernetik

Einladung zum Vortrag im Kolloquium Technische Kybernetik

Modeling and systems analysis of gene regulatory networks

Prof. Mustafa Khammash
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Zeit: Dienstag · 27. 6. 2006 · 16:00 Uhr
    Ort: Seminarraum 3.241 · Pfaffenwaldring 9 · Campus Stuttgart-Vaihingen

Abstract

The heat shock response in bacteria is an essential mechanism for combating the stress resulting from the increase in the ambient cellular temperature. The logic of the heat shock response is implemented through an intricate hierarchy of feedback and feedforward controls that regulate both the amount, functionality, and half-life of key regulatory factors. We present a dynamic model that captures known aspects of the heat shock system. With the aid of this model, we discuss the logic of the response from a control theory perspective, drawing comparisons to synthetic engineering control systems. Questions related to robustness analysis and model validation will also be discussed and related mathematical challenges will be outlined.

While mathematical modeling of genetic networks like that of the heat shock system often represents gene expression and regulation as deterministic processes, there is now considerable experimental evidence indicating that significant stochastic fluctuations are present in these processes. The investigation of stochastic properties in genetic systems involves the formulation of a correct representation of molecular noise and devising efficient computational algorithms for computing the relevant statistics of the modeled processes. We present some of these techniques and use them to provide compelling examples that illustrate the richness of phenomena that can result from the interaction of dynamics and noise in genetic networks.

Biographical Information

Mustafa Khammash is the Director of the Center for Control, Dynamical systems, and Computations (CCDC) at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). He also holds an appointment as Professor and Vice Chair of the Mechanical Engineering at UCSB. He received his B.S. degree from Texas A&M University in 1986 and his Ph.D. from Rice University in 1990, both in electrical engineering. In 1990, he became a member of the faculty of the Electrical Engineering department at Iowa State University where he led the control group until joining the dynamics and control group in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prof. Khammash's research interests lie in the general area of dynamics and feedback control and its applications in natural and man-made systems. He works in the areas of robust control theory, multi-objective control, systems biology. Khammash is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, the Iowa State University Foundation Early Achievement in Research and Scholarship Award, the ISU College of Engineering Young Faculty Research Award.