Control engineering and gene regulatory networks

控制工程和基因调控网络

• 批准号: 327746-2006
• 负责人: Wu, FangXiang
• 金额: $ 1.31万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2006-01-01 至 2007-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=335590
• 关键词: Control; engineering; gene; regulatory; networks

Traditional biology has focused on identifying individual genes, proteins and cells, and studying their specific functions. But that kind of research can yield relatively limited insights about the whole organism, including the human body. As an analogy, if one wanted to study an airplane, and focused on identifying the engine, wings, and seat belts, and studied their specific functions, one would have no real understanding of how an airplane operates. More importantly, one would have no understanding of how to effectively service the airplane when something malfunctions. So too, a traditional approach to studying biology and human health has left us with a limited understanding of how the whole organism operates, and how we can best predict, prevent, or remedy potential health problems. As a result, traditional biological/medical researchers have had a limited success in curing complex diseases such as cancer, HIV AIDS, and diabetes because their research generally looks at only a few aspects of an organism at a time. Actually, genes encode proteins, some of which in turn regulate other genes. Such interactions work in highly structured but incredibly complex ways, similar to the complex interactions among many parts of an airplane. With advances in the measurement technology for gene expression and in genome sequencing, it has become possible to measure the expression level of thousands of genes simultaneously in a cell at a series of time points over a specific biological process. Such time-course gene expression data provides a snapshot of most (if not all) of the interesting genes and may lead to a better understanding of gene regulatory networks, and thus a better understanding of life. The long-term objective of our proposed research is to advance the modeling and understanding of the dynamic behaviour of a cellular system at its most fundamental level (i.e., the gene and protein level) and to control the cellular system in disease diagnosis and treatment.

传统生物学一直专注于识别单个基因、蛋白质和细胞，并研究它们的特定功能。但这类研究对包括人体在内的整个生物体的洞察力相对有限。打个比方，如果想研究一架飞机，专注于识别发动机、机翼和安全带，研究它们的具体功能，就不会真正了解飞机的运行方式。更重要的是，当飞机出现故障时，人们不知道如何有效地维修飞机。同样，研究生物学和人类健康的传统方法给我们留下了对整个有机体如何运作的有限理解，以及我们如何最好地预测、预防或补救潜在的健康问题。因此，传统的生物/医学研究人员在治愈癌症、艾滋病毒艾滋病和糖尿病等复杂疾病方面取得的成功有限，因为他们的研究通常一次只关注生物体的几个方面。实际上，基因编码蛋白质，其中一些蛋白质反过来调节其他基因。这种相互作用以高度结构化但极其复杂的方式工作，类似于飞机许多部件之间的复杂相互作用。随着基因表达测量技术和基因组测序技术的进步，在特定的生物过程中，在一系列时间点同时测量细胞中数千个基因的表达水平已经成为可能。这些时序基因表达数据提供了大多数(如果不是全部)感兴趣的基因的快照，并可能导致更好地理解基因调控网络，从而更好地理解生命。我们提出的研究的长期目标是在最基本的水平(即基因和蛋白质水平)推进对细胞系统动态行为的建模和理解，并在疾病诊断和治疗中控制细胞系统。