One of the forefronts in biology is the robust conversations taking place between biologists and engineers. The similarities between human design and biological systems are becoming more clear as both fields advance. They are typically at levels in the biological hierarchy where functional relationships are identified. This effort is advancing most in the fields of systems biology, synthetic biology, and biomimetics.
Here is a small sampling of resources:
Survey of Engineering Models for Systems Biology
As a discipline, systems biology shares many characteristics with engineering. However, before the benefits of engineering-based modeling formalisms and analysis tools can be applied to systems biology, the engineering discipline(s) most related to systems biology must be identified. In this paper, we identify the cell as an embedded computing system and, as such, demonstrate that systems biology shares many aspects in common with computer systems engineering, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering.
Control Theory and Systems Biology Laboratory
The logic of the heat shock response is implemented through a hierarchy of feedback and feedforward control architectures that regulate both the amount of sigma-32 and its functionality. We have developed a dynamic model that captures known aspects of the heat shock system and are using it to exploring the logic of the heat shock response from a control theory perspective, drawing comparisons to control systems in engineering.
Systems Biology and the Quest for Design Principles
Some approaches compare living systems to well-functioning engineered systems to identify so-called optimality principles. Examples are the discovery of the general ‘optimal’ branching angle in vascular systems inspired by the designs of pipe systems that minimize the flow of resistance (Rashevsky 1961, Rosen 1967), and Savageau’s demand theory for optimal gene regulation (Savageau 1989). Engineering approaches have recently had a renaissance with the application of graph theoretical tools to biological datasets. In systems biology such principles are typically referred to as design principles. These need not focus on optimal performance but are organizational rules “that underlie what networks can achieve particular biological functions” (Ma et al. 2009, 260).
Engineering and control of biological systems: A new way to tackle complex diseases
It is worth briefly considering the relationship between systems biology and synthetic biology: systems biology can be thought of as the other side of the coin, in that it aims at developing a formal understanding of biological systems through the application of engineering and physics principles. …The drive in merging engineering and biology has begun and shows no sign of slowing down.
An Introduction to Feedback Control in Systems Biology
Although many of these researchers have recently become interested in control-theoretic ideas such as feedback, stability, noise and disturbance attenuation, and robustness, it is still unfortunately the case that only researchers with an engineering background will usually have received any formal training in control theory. Indeed, our initial motivation to write this book arose from the difficulty we found in recommending an introductory text on feedback control to colleagues who were not from an engineering background, but who needed to understand control engineering methods to analyse complex biological systems.
Biomimetics: forecasting the future of science, engineering, and medicine
Leonardo da Vinci’s (1452–1519) work is a fundamental example of biomimicry. He designed a “flying machine” inspired by a bird. In the Far East, General Yi Sun-sin built the turtleship, a warship modeled after a turtle, to fight Japanese raiders during invasions. The Wright brothers (1867–1948) took note of the wings of eagles and made a powered airplane that succeeded in human flight for the first time in 1903. Over the next century, the airplane became faster, more stable, and more aerodynamic. Schmitt was the first to coin the term biomimetics in 1957, and he announced a turning point for biology and technology.
Lecture on Applying Engineering to Life:
Obviously, many differences exist between human engineering and biological systems, but the nature of those differences demonstrates that biological systems are the product of a much higher intelligence. The latter demonstrate greater levels of efficiency (e.g. ATP synthase) and greater levels of ingenuity (e.g. capacities of birds to navigate and control their flight).