Michael Elowitz
California Institute of Technology
Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Biology & Biological Engineering
Abstract: Circuits of interacting proteins can perform a variety of "computational" functions in living cells. They allow cells to encode and decode signals, store information, and compute responses to complex stimuli. What kinds of design principles allow natural protein circuits to perform these functions effectively? How can we design synthetic protein circuits that provide similar or totally new functionality? This talk will explore emerging paradigms of natural and synthetic protein circuit design in mammalian cells. A major focus will be on core intercellular communication pathways such as BMP and Notch which use multiple promiscuously interacting ligands and receptors, as well as new approaches for programming fully synthetic mammalian circuits.
