Fluctuations importance and control in biological systems

Cooperativity in biological systems

Living organisms can sense and respond to external and internal stimuli. Response isdemonstrated in many forms including modulation of gene expression profiles, motility,secretion, cell death, etc. Nevertheless, all forms share a basic property: they depend on sensingsmall changes in the concentration of an effector molecule or subtle conformational changes ina protein and invoking the appropri...

The Importance of Biological Control in Agriculture

Nonlinear dynamics and fluctuations in biological systems (Habilitation thesis)

Inspired by the coordinated beating of the flagellar pair of the green algae Chlamydomonas, we study theoretically a simple, mirror-symmetric swimmer, which propels itself at low Reynoldsnumber by a revolving motion of a pair of spheres. We show that perfect synchronization between thesetwo driven spheres can occur due to the motion of the swimmer and local hydrodynamic friction forces....

Control in Biological Systems

The field of control and systems has been connected to biological systems and biotechnology for many decades, going back to the work of Norbert Wiener on cybernetics in 1965, the work of Walter Cannon on homeostasis in 1929, and the early work of Claude Bernard on the milieu interieur in 1865. Nonetheless, the impact of control and systems on devices and applications in the field of biology has...

Biological Control of Arthropods of Conservation Importance

Invasive species, and the associated development of a relatively new biological discipline broadly known as invasion biology, are a mainstream and widely recognized scientific endeavor. Parties interested in invasive species and their management, modes of infiltration, and impact represent widely disparate groups including: political officials, conservationists, ecologists, agricultural, silvic...