• Links

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Images

The Synthetic Biology Wet Lab

The Complex Systems Wet Lab is the most recent addition to the Complex Systems group, which besides some eventual collaborations has been a theoretical biology group so far. Thus, it was born to test some of the ideas generated by the dry lab about the emergence of complexity in gene networks. This unique background and expertise means that we use models, nonlinear dynamics and the knowledge of graph theory as well as the standard techniques from molecular biology to achieve our goals.

In particular, we are currently highly interested in elucidating the complex processes that led to the arisal of multicellularity aproximately 500 million years ago. To do so, we are building new genetic constructs in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells in order to test which tools are necessary for an organism to start building a body, with specialized cell types and distribution of labor.

The research at the Complex Systems Wet Lab is funded by the Marcelino Botin Foundation.

Highlights

Interesting article: Unwinding the secrets behind pattern formation

A recent paper by Shigeru Kondo, shows that Reaction-Diffusion systems, like those described by Alan Turing in 1953, are the driving motor behind skin patterning in several organisms. They have been able to reproduce different designs found in actual animals simulating morphogenic systems. Click the image above to see the complete paper in Science.