Frontiers in Mathematical Biology

Noise Attenuation and Robustness in Cell Signaling and Patterning

Qing Nie

University of California Irvine

Noises and stochastic effects usually exist in every biological system due to many intrinsic and extrinsic factors. In this talk, I will discuss strategies and principles for noise attenuation and robustness to genetic or/and environmental perturbations in cell signaling and embryonic patterning. In one case, I will introduce a critical quantity that dictates capability of attenuating temporal noises in feedback systems. In another case, I will show that noises in signal transduction actually enable reduction of stochastic effects in spatial patterns. In addition, I will present several new experimental data in yeast cells and zebrafish embryo that support our modeling and computational predictions.