What is the molecular logic?
We start from a finding. All life on earth is genetically related by an evolutionary past that extends in a roughly four billion years. Likewise, all organic compounds which build an organism were selected during evolution for its adaptation to execute specific cellular or biochemical functions. Therefore, it can ask the question:
Are there fundamental design principles governing equally to all agencies of our planet?
Lehninger in the 70´s called “molecular logic of life” to a series of biochemical- molecular generalizations present in all cellular organisms and consequently gave the first step to the meaning of the concept of "molecular logic”.
Over time, the advent of functional genomics has enabled the characterization of the molecular constituents of life. Nowadays, the concept of “stored procedures” allows us to use model organisms to explore and infer the function of human genes and to place them in the normal and pathological context of their information pathways.
Today we are able to describe molecular interactions and biochemical changes that occur in organisms and then translate these descriptions to logic circuits that demonstrate how information is handled.
Somehow, the task of the new molecular biology is a logical task. A task for molecular logic.
Recently, Tamsir & cols [2011] developed a method to compute logical operations within the cells similarly to the artificial integrated circuits, wherein the logic gate is encoded in DNA and operated by other biomolecules .
Specifically, it attempts to show how a biochemical process, such as the transcription of a repressor in a particular cell can be seen from the operation of the logic gates. This is what we might call the new molecular logic, a more technical and less philosophical connotation.
What challenges are emerging for this new disciplinary space?
Particularly in this workshop we will address the fact that even though the logic gates have proven to be functionally appropriate for analyzing experimental data of cellular and biochemical processes, the models based on Boolean logic have limitations for conceptual and predictive value when analyzing complex biological processes. This is because many of the biological variables of interest, in fact, are continuous variables.
Here is a very interesting future challenge to logicians, mathematicians and researchers in cell biology.
We start from a finding. All life on earth is genetically related by an evolutionary past that extends in a roughly four billion years. Likewise, all organic compounds which build an organism were selected during evolution for its adaptation to execute specific cellular or biochemical functions. Therefore, it can ask the question:
Are there fundamental design principles governing equally to all agencies of our planet?
Lehninger in the 70´s called “molecular logic of life” to a series of biochemical- molecular generalizations present in all cellular organisms and consequently gave the first step to the meaning of the concept of "molecular logic”.
Over time, the advent of functional genomics has enabled the characterization of the molecular constituents of life. Nowadays, the concept of “stored procedures” allows us to use model organisms to explore and infer the function of human genes and to place them in the normal and pathological context of their information pathways.
Today we are able to describe molecular interactions and biochemical changes that occur in organisms and then translate these descriptions to logic circuits that demonstrate how information is handled.
Somehow, the task of the new molecular biology is a logical task. A task for molecular logic.
Recently, Tamsir & cols [2011] developed a method to compute logical operations within the cells similarly to the artificial integrated circuits, wherein the logic gate is encoded in DNA and operated by other biomolecules .
Specifically, it attempts to show how a biochemical process, such as the transcription of a repressor in a particular cell can be seen from the operation of the logic gates. This is what we might call the new molecular logic, a more technical and less philosophical connotation.
What challenges are emerging for this new disciplinary space?
Particularly in this workshop we will address the fact that even though the logic gates have proven to be functionally appropriate for analyzing experimental data of cellular and biochemical processes, the models based on Boolean logic have limitations for conceptual and predictive value when analyzing complex biological processes. This is because many of the biological variables of interest, in fact, are continuous variables.
Here is a very interesting future challenge to logicians, mathematicians and researchers in cell biology.