A Control Theory Approach to Engineering Biomolecular Networks

Control theory has been instrumental for the development of a number of engineering systems, including aerospace and transportation systems, robotics and intelligent machines, manufacturing chains, electrical, power, and information networks. In the past decade, the ability of engineering biomolecular networks has become a reality in the rising field of synthetic biology. Biomolecular networks are composed of repression and activation interactions among genes, proteins, and small signaling molecules, and have the potential of implementing arbitrarily complex functions. While modular analysis and design is a promising approach to engineer complex networks, it is still subject of debate whether a modular approach is viable in biomolecular systems. The dynamics of these networks are highly nonlinear and therefore addressing this question requires the use of tools from nonlinear control theory. Here, we review some of the techniques that we have been developing in order to analyze and design biomolecular networks modularly.