PHYS-BIO Joint Seminar: Cellular telephone games

PHYS-BIO Joint Seminar: Cellular telephone games

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Title: Cellular telephone games:  how biological networks cope with noisy signal transmission

Speaker: Michael Hinczewski (Case Western Reserve University)

Date/Time: May 27, 2015 Wednesday at 13:40

Place: Sabancı University, FENS G035

Abstract:
Living cells make crucial decisions --- whether to grow, divide, die
--- based on external signaling molecules in their environment.  The
biochemical networks which transmit and amplify these signals from
receptors on the cell surface are like an elaborate game of telephone:
 with each stage of the transmission, information is lost through the
random nature of the underlying reactions.  In this talk, we will
discuss how ideas from statistical physics and signal processing,
particularly the theory of Wiener-Kolmogorov filters, can help us
understand the fundamental constraints on biological signaling.  In
the process, we illuminate the striking costs of transmitting even a
single bit of information through the tumult of the cell.

contact: İsmet İnönü Kaya iikaya@sabanciuniv.edu