Convergent Evolutionary Paths in Biological and Technological Networks

Solé, Ricard V.; Valverde, Sergi; Rodríguez‐Caso, Carlos

doi:10.1007/s12052-011-0346-1

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…These include among others light-producing organs in squids, 272 electric organs in teleost fish, 273 neural circuits underlying communication and speech 274 and even technological networks. 275,276 Convergence is an indication of a limited repertoire of design rules and, more importantly, the existence of limitations to what can be 256 illustrating the effect of cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions on the emergent morphology. Top: Uniform invasion of the ECM by mesenchymal cells, while the endothelium remains stable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A morphospace for synthetic organs and organoids: the possible and the actual

et al. 2016

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Efforts in evolutionary developmental biology have shed light on how organs are developed and why evolution has selected some structures instead of others. These advances in the understanding of organogenesis along with the most recent techniques of organotypic cultures, tissue bioprinting and synthetic biology provide the tools to hack the physical and genetic constraints in organ development, thus opening new avenues for research in the form of completely designed or merely altered settings. Here we propose a unifying framework that connects the concept of morphospace (i.e. the space of possible structures) with synthetic biology and tissue engineering. We aim for a synthesis that incorporates our understanding of both evolutionary and architectural constraints and can be used as a guide for exploring alternative design principles to build artificial organs and organoids. We present a three-dimensional morphospace incorporating three key features associated to organ and organoid complexity. The axes of this space include the degree of complexity introduced by developmental mechanisms required to build the structure, its potential to store and react to information and the underlying physical state. We suggest that a large fraction of this space is empty, and that the void might offer clues for alternative ways of designing and even inventing new organs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A morphospace for synthetic organs and organoids: the possible and the actual

et al. 2016

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“…This conclusion plausibly extends towards networks of all natures that display flows of matter and information: functional networks in neuroscience (e.g. [48]), or protein-protein interactions networks or software systems networks [49]. In each case, looking for alignment or misalignment between the flows, the node level and the whole-network level should be informative regarding the dynamics of the system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Shifting levels of ecological network's analysis reveals different system properties

Niquil

Haraldsson

Sime‐Ngando

et al. 2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Network analyses applied to models of complex systems generally contain at least three levels of analyses. Whole-network metrics summarize general organizational features (properties or relationships) of the entire network, while node-level metrics summarize similar organization features but consider individual nodes. The network- and node-level metrics build upon the primary pairwise relationships in the model. As with many analyses, sometimes there are interesting differences at one level that disappear in the summary at another level of analysis. We illustrate this phenomenon with ecosystem network models, where nodes are trophic compartments and pairwise relationships are flows of organic carbon, such as when a predator eats a prey. For this demonstration, we analysed a time-series of 16 models of a lake planktonic food web that describes carbon exchanges within an autumn cyanobacteria bloom and compared the ecological conclusions drawn from the three levels of analysis based on inter-time-step comparisons. A general pattern in our analyses was that the closer the levels are in hierarchy (node versus network, or flow versus node level), the more they tend to align in their conclusions. Our analyses suggest that selecting the appropriate level of analysis, and above all regularly using multiple levels, may be a critical analytical decision. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Unifying the essential concepts of biological networks: biological insights and philosophical foundations'.

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“…Beyond manipulating biological networks, systems thinking can also be applied on a larger scale to improve the vein-to-vein supply network of ACT. The complexity of many artificial systems in today's hyperconnected world is increasingly approaching that of biological systems [40,41]. This highlights the difficulty in manufacturing and supplying ACT therapies where artificial and biological components intertwine.…”

Section: Systems Thinking To Address Act Supply and Manufacturing Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Cancer Immunotherapy by Embracing and Engineering Complexity

Chin

Gentleman

Coppens

et al. 2020

Trends in Biotechnology

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The meteoric rise of cancer immunotherapy in the last decade has led to promising treatments for a number of hard-to-treat malignancies. In particular, adoptive T cell therapy has recently reached a major milestone with two products approved by the FDA. However, the inherent complexity of cell-based immunotherapies means that their manufacturing time, cost, and controllability limit their effectiveness and geographic reach. One way to address these issues may lie in complementing the dominant, reductionistic mentality in modern medicine with complex systems thinking. In this Opinion, we identify key concepts from complexity theory to address manufacturing challenges in cell-based immunotherapies and raise the possibility of a unifying framework upon which future bioprocessing strategies may be designed. HighlightsComplexity theory provides a conceptual framework in which biological and artificial networks may be designed or manipulated to intensify cell bioprocessing in cancer immunotherapies.Studies on T cell mechanobiology have revealed how physical parameters may be exploited to perturb intracellular networks as an effective way of controlling T cell fates for immunotherapeutic applications.Systems biology-based computational models open up the potential to predict cues needed to guide T cell differentiation and reprogramming.Advances in immunomodulatory biomaterials, microfabrication and wearable medical technologies raise the possibility of scaling up point-of-care deployment of immunotherapies.

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Convergent Evolutionary Paths in Biological and Technological Networks

Cited by 10 publications

References 86 publications

A morphospace for synthetic organs and organoids: the possible and the actual

A morphospace for synthetic organs and organoids: the possible and the actual

Shifting levels of ecological network's analysis reveals different system properties

Rethinking Cancer Immunotherapy by Embracing and Engineering Complexity

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