Catalysis in Reaction Networks

Venue: A 212 (STCS seminar room)

Date and Time: Thursday, February 24, 2:00 pm

Abstract: If networks of chemical reactions are the circuits of biology then catalysts are the switches. But which species should be called catalysts? Chemistry textbooks answer this question when there is a single reaction. For an entire network of reactions , the concept becomes more nuanced, and has been worked out in a recent paper (arXiv:1006.3627). I will discuss this notion of catalysis for reaction networks, and illustrate it with an example from the "seesaw gate" of Qian and Winfree, which is a motif for engineering large reaction networks out of DNA molecules.

Prerequisites: You should know what a graph is, what a monomial is, what the greatest common divisor of two monomials is, and what DNA is.

Chemical Reaction Networks

Date & Time: Thursday, 10th February 2011, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm, followed by discussions.

Venue: A-212 (STCS Seminar Room) 

Abstract: An elaborate symphony is orchestrated in every living cell. The score is written in DNA, and is played out by RNA and protein enzymes, but where is the conductor of this symphony? Research in molecular biology over the past half century suggests that it is the intricate biochemical circuits (gene regulatory networks, cell signalling pathways, etc.) that play this role. It may be of value to learn to read and design the logic of biochemical circuits. I will give a tutorial-style introduction to the mathematics of chemical reaction networks, with a special emphasis on mass action kinetics.