Structure and stability in autocatalytic metabolic pathways: A Control and Dynamical Systems approach

Metabolism (the set of chemical reactions that occur in the cell) is one of the most studied networks in the cell. The structure and nature of the chemical reactions that compile the different metabolic pathways is generally very well understood. There are interesting behaviors, such as oscillations, that emerge from these pathways. This talk will focus on the role of autocatalytic loops in creating destabilizing positive feedbacks. In general, autocatalytic feedback can create "open-loop" instabilities, but the structure of metabolism appears to limit this somewhat. Control theory tools provide hard bounds on achievable performance and the trade-offs involved. This talk will present some initial investigations into how the structure of metabolic pathways and product inhibition affect their stability and performance properties. There will be a brief tutorial introduction on control theory and the relevant biological concepts at the beginning of the talk.

SPEAKER: Genti Buzi received his Bachelors of Science (Summa Cum Laude) at SUNY Fredonia, majoring on Computer Science and Physics, with a minor in Mathematics. He received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at Caltech and later worked as an assistant scientist in Bioinformatics in the Biology Department at Caltech. He has currently joined the PhD program in Control and Dynamical Systems at Caltech, and working under the direction of Prof John Doyle in control theory and systems biology

Place: Fenton Hall, Rm. 105.

Date and Time: Nov 9, 4 pm

Sponsored by: MACS Scholarship Program