SPP 1395: Information and Communication Theory in Molecular Biology

在20世纪中叶，信息论和分子遗传学经历了一段伟大的成功历史：一方面，香农1948年的基础工作催生了我们所生活的现代信息和通信社会。另一方面，1953年Watson和Cricks发现了DNA的双螺旋结构，这是当代遗传学及其在医学上应用的开始。存储在DNA中的信息被传输、复制和改变(突变)。它进一步控制细胞内和细胞间的许多过程。有趣的是，所有这些过程都可以用信息论的模型和方法来描述和分析。我们相信，信息和通信理论家与生物学家和医学科学家一起，可以有助于更好地了解细胞中与通信有关的过程，尽管过去几年的研究取得了很好的进展。在信息论和编码论中，信息的传递是以抽象的方式来看待的，因此人们可以预期，与具体实现无关，概念、模块和结果可以应用于分子通信过程。因此，这一优先计划完全侧重于协助信息和传播科学家与生物学家和医学科学家之间的跨学科项目。现代生物学，通常被称为21世纪的关键科学，目前正在经历一场变革。大量的新数据要求将传统生物学与其他科学相结合。新的理论概念、现代数据分析方法和数学模型将在分子生物学中发挥战略作用，而这只能通过密切的跨学科合作来实现。这一优先方案旨在鼓励和协助这一合作。

During the middle of the 20th century, information theory and molecular genetics have gone through a great history of success: On one hand, the fundamental work of Shannon in 1948, which has giving rise to the modern information- and communication society we are living in. On the other hand, the discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA by Watson and Cricks in 1953, which was the beginning of contemporary genetics and its use in medicine. The information stored in the DNA, is transmitted, duplicated and changed (mutated). It further controls many processes in and in between cells. Interestingly, all these procedures can be described and analysed with models and methods of information theory. We are convinced that information and communication theorists, together with biologists and medical scientists can contribute to a better understanding of processes in the cell concerning communication, even though there is good progress in research over the last years. In information theory and coding theory, transmission of information is viewed in an abstract way, so one can expect that independent of concrete realisations, the concepts, modules and results can be applied to molecular communication processes. Therefore, this Priority Programme focusses exclusively on assisting interdisciplinary projects in between information and communication scientists, on one hand, and biologists and medical scientists, on the other hand. Modern biology, often referred to as the key science of the 21th century, is currently undergoing a transformation. The amount of new data demands the integration of the traditional biology with the other sciences. New theoretical concepts, modern methods of data analysis and mathematical models will play a strategical role in molecular biology and this can only be accomplished by intensive interdisciplinary collaboration. This Priority Programme intends to encourage and assist this collaboration.