Title: Molecules in Motion
Subtitle: a theoretical study of noise in gene expression and cell signalling
Promotores: Prof.dr. J.G. Verwer and Prof.dr. H.V. Westerhoff
ABSTRACT.
Designing personalized medicine, using microorganisms to neutralize toxic
waste or to produce human insulin requires understanding of complex
biochemical processes in living organisms.
Codification of this knowledge into mathematical equations helps to predict
organism's behavior using computers without actual experiments.
The task is not easy.
Even a single minuscule biological cell contains millions of molecules
interacting in thousands of chemical reactions.
Biochemistry crammed into a tiny volume of every cell must be well
coordinated in time and space in order for an organism to develop and to function.
A mistake in recognizing the food source or the presence of a toxic chemical
may be catastrophic for an organism.
Some of the errors or inaccuracies stem from random effects that are
inevitable for a system that small.
Randomness in a cell is our focus. We develop mathematical tools to study this type of problems.
We analyze parts of cellular machinery and assess under what circumstances
random effects can be avoided and when organisms can benefit from them.
It is biochemical randomness that allows bacteria to resist antibiotics or
cancer cells to survive chemotherapy.
Being able to affect and disrupt these processes requires theories like the
one presented here.
