In this section

Research

Biological systems - including the simplest cells - exhibit a broad range of functions to thrive in their environment. Research in the Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology is focused on the possibility of engineering the underlying biochemical processes to solve many of the challenges facing society, from healthcare to sustainable energy. In particular, we model, analyse, design and build biological and biochemical systems in living cells and/or in cell extracts, both exploring and enhancing the engineering potential of biology.

As part of our research we develop novel methods to accelerate the celebrated Design-Build-Test-Learn synthetic biology cycle. As such research in the Centre for Synthetic Biology highly multi- and interdisciplinary covering computational modelling and machine learning approaches; automated platform development and genetic circuit engineering ; multi-cellular and multi-organismal interactions, including gene drive and genome engineering; metabolic engineering; in vitro/cell-free synthetic biology; engineered phages and directed evolution; and biomimetics, biomaterials and biological engineering.

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Hancock:2017:10.1016/j.cels.2017.09.013,
author = {Hancock, E and Ang, J and Papachristodoulou, A and Stan, G},
doi = {10.1016/j.cels.2017.09.013},
journal = {Cell Systems},
pages = {498--508.e23},
title = {The interplay between feedback and buffering in homeostasis},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2017.09.013},
volume = {5},
year = {2017}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Feedback and buffering---the use of reservoirs of molecules to maintain molecular concentrations---are the primary mechanisms for robust regulation in biochemical processes. The universal principles behind their combined effect, however, have not been studied before. Here, we determine the fundamental forms of cooperation and tradeoff between buffering and feedback. We find that negative feedback regulates slow-changing components of time-varying signals, while buffering regulates fast-changing components, consistent with observations of both ATP and pH regulation. We further find that buffering stabilizes feedback and improves its effectiveness, but also introduces molecular noise. In addition, we show that rapid-acting buffering imparts negative derivative feedback, while slow-acting buffering can result in feedforward filtering of specific signals; both are control strategies widely used in technology. Finally, we discover an empirical cross-species relationship between feedback in glycolysis and ATP buffering that is consistent with our findings.
AU  - Hancock,E
AU  - Ang,J
AU  - Papachristodoulou,A
AU  - Stan,G
DO  - 10.1016/j.cels.2017.09.013
EP  - 508
PY  - 2017///
SN  - 2405-4712
SP  - 498
TI  - The interplay between feedback and buffering in homeostasis
T2  - Cell Systems
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2017.09.013
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/50167
VL  - 5
ER  -