Abstract

Advances over the past decade have given biological engineers new insights into the role of genetic circuits in nature and the design of biomolecular circuits to implement biological operations in vitro and in vivo. In this talk the speaker will discuss the use of concepts from systems and control engineering as applied to the analysis and design of biological feedback circuits. After a brief survey of relevant concepts from synthetic biology, he will present some recent results that combine modeling, analysis, design and experimental implementation of biological feedback circuits. These results include the role of redundant biological pathways for implementing robust decision-making strategies in cells, the use of biomolecular "breadboards" for prototyping and debugging engineered biomolecular circuits, and the implementation of circuits for regulation of gene expression and biomolecular event detection. Using these results as examples, the speaker will discuss some of the open problems and research challenges in the area feedback control using biological circuits. 

About the speaker

Prof Richard Murray received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991. He joined the faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1991 and helped found the Control and Dynamical Systems program. He was Director of Mechatronic Systems at the United Technologies Research Center from 1998 to 1999. He returned to Caltech in 2000 and is currently Thomas E. and Doris Everhart Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems and Bioengineering.

Prof Murray’s research is in the application of feedback and control to networked systems, with applications in biology and autonomy. His current projects include analysis and design biomolecular feedback circuits; specification, design and synthesis of networked control systems and novel architectures for control using slow computing.

Prof Murray is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come first-served basis.

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