第4回講演会 発表要旨

“Biomolecular Feedback Control Theory for Engineering Biocircuits: From Modeling to Prototyping”

Hori, Yutaka (Caltech)

　Recent technological advancements have enabled us to construct artificial biomolecular networks, or biocircuits, that produce desired dynamic functions such as bistability, oscillations and logic gates by assembling DNA parts. This technology allows for many potential engineering and biomedical applications, including the production of high-value molecules and the sensing of hazardous chemicals, using the cellular machinery of microbes. Toward a systematic engineering of complex biological systems, model-based biocircuit design has been increasingly important in recent years.
  In this talk, I will present a control theoretic modeling framework to systematically engineer biocircuits along with experimental demonstrations. We start by deriving a feedback model  representation of biomolecular systems and rigorous theoretical tools for analyzing stability and oscillatory dynamics of biocircuits. The theoretical tools are then demonstrated by experimentally prototyping 3-node and a novel 5-node cyclic feedback oscillators and tuning the period of oscillations over a wide range of parameters in a theoretically predicted manner.
  Toward the end of the talk, a recently developed set-based parameter identification method is also discussed with current theoretical and experimental challenges.