Systems Biology ?Systems Biology ≈ Network BiologyGOAL: develop a quantitative understanding of the biological functionof genetic and biochemical networksgene Agene Cgene Egene Bgene Dgene FINPUTOUTPUT- function of gene product A-F can be known in detail but this is notsufficient to reveal the biological function of the INPUT-OUTPUT relation- a system approach (looking beyond one gene/protein) is necessary toreveal the biological function of this whole network- what is the function of the individual interactions (feedbacks andfeedforwards) in the context of the entire network ?Alternatively,Systems Engineering + Molecular BiologySystems Engineering Molecular BiologySystems Biology = Applying Systems Engineeringconcepts to Biological SystemsOR2OR3λλλλλλOR2OR3λλOR2OR3λλλλK1K2A traditional molecular biologist would ask:- what is the molecular structure ofthe cI dimer ?- what is DNA sequence recognizedby the cI dimer ?- what are the essential amino acidsin cI responsible for dimerization ?- what are the values for K1and K2?- is the sequence conversed during evolution ?Focussed on the molecule cI. molecular biology vs systems biologyOR2OR3λλλλλλOR2OR3λλOR2OR3λλλλK1K2A systems biologist would ask:- what is the functional role of the feedback ?- how can this lead to a hysteretic switch ?- what is the role of noise in determining the stabilityof the switch ?- is the performance of the switch sensitive to smallchanges in the parameters (fine-tuned) of not (robust).- how are these parameters changed when this moduleis cross-talking to other modules.Focussed on the network architecture. molecular biology vs systems biologyGoal of this course:- provide you with the essential mathematical toolsto be able to model network modules, such as biologicalswitches, oscillators, filters, amplifiers, etc.- provide you with lots of example of biological problemsthat can be successfully tackled with a systems biologyapproach (first well-stirred systems, second diffusion-dominated systems) by discussing recent recent