BIC: From Cellular and Gene Networks To Principles of Robust Communication and Distributed Systems Design

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An interdisciplinary approach involving concepts from computer science, mathematics, statistical physics, and communication sciences, is proposed to develop an integrated analytical and software platform that would simultaneously facilitate the analysis and understanding of several types of biological and social networks, including DNA-protein, protein-protein, metabolic, and inter-cellular signaling networks, and the design of information and computational networks, including fault-tolerant and attack-resistant federated databases and ad hoc communication networks, and distributed systems such as critical infrastructure networks (e.g., national power grids). The field of complex networks has evolved in a highly synergistic fashion, involving the physical and life sciences, computing and engineering disciplines. This proposal aims to develop a common set of tools for the diverse communities, thus promoting cross-pollination of ideas, and spurring the development of integrated technologies and innovations. In the past, most work on complex networks has been analysis-oriented; that is, identifying and measuring different characteristics of existing systems (e.g., the Internet, protein-protein interactions, empirical social networks) and proposing potential dynamics that could have led to the emergence of such systems. This proposal, focuses on a more balanced approach, where in addition to the modeling work, it also addresses the issue of how the modeling work can be harnessed to design information networks, and how to formulate systematic methods for mining the information available from complex networks. Specific topics and issues pursued include: (1) Network Tomography - Inferring hidden structures from observed data: What are the structural characteristics of biological networks and how have they evolved and formed? The recent flood of data concerning large-scale biological networks are just beginning to be analyzed, and the PI proposes to design a set of complex network tools to address these issues. (2) Information Dynamics In Complex Networks: How is information processed and communicated in complex networks? Can synchronization or stable communication among nodes arise in networks where the connectivity is itself time varying and the same pair of nodes are only intermittently connected? (3) Net-Modeler: development of a comprehensive complex network modeler to be used for both static and dynamical explorations of biological networks; (4) Designer Complex Systems - Designing Dynamic Information and Computing Networks: How to harness the structure and functionalities of the biological and other complex networks to design local protocols of a distributed and ad hoc networked system, so that the system has the desired global properties, such as low-latency and robust functionality? The methodologies and software tools developed in the proposal will be integrated into a virtual web-based laboratory. This will lead to (i) a nationwide resource for the analysis of biological and social networks, and (ii) interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses and training programs on complex networks and their applications.