1st Edition

Structured Biological Modelling A New Approach to Biophysical Cell Biology

By Michael Kraus, Bernhard Wolf Copyright 1995
    238 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Structured Biological Modelling presents a straightforward introduction for computer-aided analysis, mathematical modelling, and simulation of cell biological systems. This unique guide brings together the physiological, structural, molecular biological, and theoretical aspects of the signal transduction network that regulates growth and proliferation in normal and tumor cells. It provides comprehensive survey of functional and theoretical features of intracellular signal processing and introduces the concept of cellular self-organization. Exemplified by oscillatory calcium waves, strategies for the design of computer experiments are presented that can assist or even substitute for time-consuming biological experiments. The presented minimal model for proliferation-associated signal transduction clearly shows the alterations of the cellular signal network involved in neoplastic growth. This book will be useful to cell and molecular biologists, oncologists, physiologists, theoretical biologists, computer scientists, and all other researchers and students studying functional aspects of cellular signaling.

    Preface
    Holistic Approaches for Data Acquisition in Cell Biology-The Basis for SBM
    Holistic Versus Molecular Biological Methods: A Fundamental Complementarity Between Experimental Strategies
    Selected Minimal-Invasive Techniques for Holistic Data Acquisition in Cell Biology
    Analytical Light Microscopy
    Analytical Electron Microscopy
    Further Analytical Techniques with Relevance for SBM
    Image Analysis
    Cellular Biosensors: Powerful Electrical Devices for the Detection of Biomolecular Signals
    Structured Biological Modelling (SBM)-Technique and Applications
    The SBM Cycle
    Preliminary Remarks about the Modelling of Biological Systems
    Structured Analysis
    Mathematical Specification of the DFD Model
    Stochastic Simulation of the Mathematical Model
    SBM Applied to Intracellular Ca2+ Oscillations
    The Experimental Basis
    Critical Discussion of Minimal Models for Intracellular Ca2+ Oscillations
    Microscopic View of Ca2+ Oscillators Represented by Stochastic Models: The Stochastic Two-Pool Oscillator
    A SBM Model for Oscillatory Intracellular Ca2+ Waves in Nonexcitable Cells
    Minimal Model of the Cellular Signal Transduction Network
    The Cell Cycle
    Modules of the Intracellular Signal Network
    Structured Analysis of Proliferation-Associated Cell Signaling
    The Minimal Model of the Mitogenic Signal Transduction Network: Discussion and Outlook
    Emergence of Self-Organization in Tumor Biology
    Brief Phenomenology of Self-Organized Cellular Structures
    Physical Preliminaries
    Phase Transitions in Cell Cycle and Neoplastic Growth
    Neoplastic Growth as a Process of Cellular Self-Organization?
    The Hierarchy of Biological Systems: Microenvironmental Hydrogen Ion Concentration as Central Order Parameter for Invasive Tumor Growth
    Summary and Outlook
    References

    Biography

    Michael Kraus, Bernhard Wolf