Bio-QuBIC: Robust Engineering using Biologically-Inspired Models of Cell Differentiation and Morphogenesis

题目：使用细胞分化和形态发生的生物学启发模型的稳健工程本研究侧重于形态发生和发育生物学，作为从局部相互作用的代理组织复杂行为的算法和一般原则的灵感。目标是设计复制生物健壮性的人工系统，并利用这些系统的见解来理解生物系统的能力。一般原则被形式化为编程语言——带有显式的原语、组合方式和抽象方式——从而为自组装系统的设计和分析提供了一个框架。先前的工作用一种编程语言证明了这种方法，该语言使用来自上皮细胞形态发生和果蝇细胞分化的局部原语，以及来自几何的规则，指定了在相同编程的“细胞”薄片上形成形状的稳健过程。具体目标是：1)为诸如生长和细胞凋亡（细胞死亡）等领域开发新的编程模型；2)研究当前编程模型与生物过程的联系。这项研究将对稳健设计的工程原理和对生物形态发生的理解产生重大影响。

EIA-0130391Gerald J. SussmanMassachusetts Institue of TechnologyTitle: Robust Engineering Using Biologically-inspired Models of Cell Differentiation and MorphogenesisThis research focuses on morphogenesis and developmental biology as an inspiration for algorithms and general principles for organizing complex behavior from locally interacting agents. The goal is to design artificial systems that replicate biological robustness, and to use insights from these systems to understand the capabilities of biological systems. The general principles are formalized as programming languages --- with explicit primitives, means of combination, and means of abstraction --- thus providing a framework or the design and analysis of self-assembling systems. Previous work demonstrated this approach with a programming language that specifies a robust process for shape formation on a sheet of identically-programmed ``cells'' using local primitives from epithelial cell morphogenesis and Drosophila cell differentiation, and rules from geometry. The specific aims are: 1) developing new programming models for domains such as growth and apoptosis (cell death) and 2) investigating the connection of current programming models to biological processes. This research will have significant impact on both the engineering principles for robust design and on the understanding of biological morphogenesis.