Reverse Engineering Cellular Complexity

The goal of the MITACS-funded research program on reverse-engineering cellular complexity is to develop new mathematical tools and algorithms for analyzing genetic switching networks. Many genes operate as switches and are turned on and off, like light bulbs, when needed. Understanding the regulatory circuits that control this switching behaviour would improve our ability to modulate gene activity, provide clues to fundamental biological design principles, and lead to better synthetic circuits for biotechnological applications. This research project focuses on inference and model discrimination problems arising from the experimental analysis of switch-like genes and the networks that control them. Using a combination theoretical analysis and simulation studies, the research team explores how reliable and accurate mathematical models can be extracted from the experimental data, and how the experiments can be designed to provide optimal information for the inference problem.