Building a synthetic chemical synapse through harnessed stochasticity

在分子水平上，生物学是嘈杂的，生命已经进化出了大量的机制来利用这种噪音进行有用的输出。如果我们想重新构建生命系统，以了解更多关于生物学和生命起源的知识，那么我们就不能忽视噪音。这个项目的目的是应用一个设计理念，拥抱随机性，以构建一个人工化学突触。预期成果包括为下一代更具活力的人工细胞创建蓝图，开发用于阐明生物物理学和系统生物学原理的重要工具，并加深我们对嘈杂分子水平事件如何对宏观尺度行为产生下游影响的理解。涉及多项国际合作。

At the molecular level, biology is noisy, and life has evolved a plethora of mechanisms to harness this noise for useful output. If we want to construct de novo living systems to learn more about biology and the origin of life, then we must not ignore noise. This project aims to apply a design philosophy that embraces randomness to construct an artificial chemical synapse. Expected outcomes include creating a blueprint for the next generation of more dynamic artificial cells, developing vital tools for the elucidation of principles in biophysics and systems biology, and deepening our understanding of how noisy molecular level events have downstream effects on macro-scale behaviours. Several international collaborations are involved.