Special Issue: Systems and Synthetic Biology

Volume 110, Issue 5

May 2022

Guest Editors

Special Issue Papers

Scanning the Issue

By M. H. Khammash and J. Stelling

By J. A. Bull and H. M. Byrne

This article reviews classes of mathematical models used to understand and treat cancer, with the perspective of upcoming validated and clinically applicable cancer models.

Metabolic Networks, Microbial Consortia, and Analogies to Smart Grids

By A. Theorell and J. Stelling

This tutorial article introduces approaches to predict fluxes in chemical reaction networks inside living cells, with an emphasis on similarities to (smart) electrical grids.

Machine Learning Approaches to Single-Cell Data Integration and Translation

By C. Uhler and G. V. Shivashankar

This article describes how problems arising in the analysis of individual biological cells and of cell-to-cell variability have inspired foundational developments in machine learning.

Spiking Control Systems

By R. Sepulchre

From control and circuit theory perspectives, this article reviews efforts toward developing a control theory of natural and engineered spiking (mixed discrete and continuous) systems.

Learning Outside the Brain: Integrating Cognitive Science and Systems Biology

By J. Gunawardena

This article uses concepts ranging from cognitive science to control theory to discuss how learning in biological systems is possible outside of, or even without, a brain.

Synthetic Gene Circuits: Design, Implement, and Apply

By A. Lezia, A. Miano, and J. Hasty

This article gives a broad overview of the field of synthetic biology, focusing on the engineering of genetic circuits.

Cybergenetics: Theory and Applications of Genetic Control Systems

By M. H. Khammash

This expository article presents an introduction to the exciting field of genetic control systems (cybergenetics). It covers the basic theory, implementation, and applications of this nascent field.

Advances in the Computational Design of Small-Molecule-Controlled Protein-Based Circuits for Synthetic Biology

By S. Kretschmer and T. Kortemme

This article reviews the field of computational protein design, focusing on the advances in the engineering of synthetic small-molecule-binding protein sensors as well as sensor–actuator proteins.

Bayesian and Algebraic Strategies to Design in Synthetic Biology

By R. P. Araujo, S. T. Vittadello, and M. P. H. Stumpf

This article provides an overview of two complementary approaches (algebraic and Bayesian) for rational design in synthetic biology.

Synthetic Morphogenesis: Introducing IEEE Journal Readers to
Programming Living Mammalian Cells to Make Structures

By J. A. Davies

This article shows how complex tissues can develop from a small number of elementary behaviors and proposes ways in which they can be manipulated to yield synthetically designed shapes.