The Effect of Loads in Molecular Communications
Name
McBride_Effect_Loads_pieee2019.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
1.13 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
c3978de185214805764c1f941e8f26d5
Author(s)
McBride, Cameron David
Shah, Rushina Jaidip
Del Vecchio, Domitilla
Date Issued
2019
Journal
Proceedings of the IEEE
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
© 1963-2012 IEEE. The ability of cells to sense and respond to their environment is encoded in biomolecular reaction networks, in which information travels through processes such as production, modification, and removal of biomolecules. Recent advances in biotechnology have made it possible to reengineer these physical processes to the point where synthetic biomolecular circuits can be inserted into cells to program cell behavior for useful functionalities. These circuits are often designed in a bottom-up fashion with smaller components connected to form complex systems. In a bottom-up approach to design, it is highly desirable that circuit components behave modularly, that is, the input-output behavior of a module characterized in isolation remains unchanged when the context changes. Unfortunately, due to the physical processes by which information is communicated from one biomolecular circuit module to the other, the lack of modularity is often a problem. In fact, the input-output behavior of a module depends on both direct connectivity to other modules, due to loading effects, and indirect connectivity arising from loads applied to shared cellular resources. In this paper, we summarize the published work illustrating how the means of molecular communication lead to these problems. Specifically, we review the concept of retroactivity, which has been proposed to capture loading problems within a 'signals and systems' framework, allowing for engineering solutions that restore modularity.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2019.2915330
