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Computational methods in synthetic biology
Author(s) -
Kaznessis Yiannis N.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.200900163
Subject(s) - formalism (music) , mathematical and theoretical biology , synthetic biology , quantitative biology , systems biology , computer science , computational biology , biology , statistical physics , cognitive science , physics , bioinformatics , art , musical , visual arts , psychology
Abstract We discuss how a theoretical synthetic biology research programme may liberate empiricism in biological sciences beyond the unaided human brain. Because synthetic biological systems are relatively small and largely independent of evolutionary contexts, they can be represented with mathematical models strongly founded on first principles of molecular biology and laws of statistical thermodynamics. A universal mathematical formalism for describing synthetic constructs may then be plausibly used to explain in unambiguous, quantitative terms how biological phenotypic complexity emerges as a result of well‐defined biomolecular interactions. SynBioSS, a publicly available software package, is described that implements this mathematical formalism.