A Dynamic Paradigm for Molecular Cell Biology

Abstract: The driving passion of molecular cell biologists is to understand the molecular mechanisms that control important aspects of cell physiology, but this ambition is – paradoxically – limited by the very wealth of molecular details currently known about these mechanisms. Their complexity overwhelms our intuitive notions of how molecular regulatory networks might respond under normal and stressful conditions. To make progress we need a new paradigm for connecting molecular biology to cell physiology. I will outline an approach that uses precise mathematical methods to associate the qualitative features of dynamical systems, as conveyed by ‘bifurcation diagrams’, with ‘signal–response’ curves measured by cell biologists.