Simulation of Gene Regulatory Networks

I have been assisting Professor Jacques Cohen at Brandeis University to explore and compare the the many available representations and interpretations of genetic regulatory networks. The term regulatory network usually refers to the complex system of interactions that controls gene transcription and translation. A simplified description of the transcription-translation process is as follows: First, RNA polymerase attaches to a promoter site on a gene and produces an mRNA mirror of the gene’s DNA sequence. Next, a ribosome translates a protein product from the strand of mRNA. At either step in this process proteins and other chemical and physical factors in the cell’s environment can interfere to either promote or suppress the production of a protein from its source gene.