Many human diseases arise from the malfunction of signalling components, in particular alterations of multiple components of an integrated signalling network. Experimental and computational tools to describe and quantify these changes are increasingly available, providing a wealth of data that can stimulate systematic analysis of the entire signalling network and enable prediction of disease states not easily recognizable from complex data sets. This groundbreaking book explores the structural and temporal complexity in biological signalling exemplified in neuronal, immunological, humoral and genetic signal transduction networks. With discussions between experimentalists and theoretically oriented scientists, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach that may help switch the analysis of biological signalling from descriptive to predictive science and capture the behaviour of entire systems. Explores the structural and temporal complexity in biological signalling. Represents an unusual collocation of three different areas: immunology, cell signalling and neural networks. Contains interdisciplinary discussions between experimentalists and theoretically oriented scientists, in particular those working on computer simulations.
Introduction (T. Sejnowski); Functional Modules in Biological Signalling Networks (U. Bhalla & R. Iyengar); Design of Immune-based Interventions in Autoimmunity and Viral Infections the Need for Predictive Models that Integrate Time, Dose and Classes of Immune Responses (M. von Herrath); Controlling the Immune System: Diffuse Feedback via a Diffuse Informational Network (L. Segel); The Versatility and Complexity of Calcium Signalling (M. Berridge); Multiple Pathways of ERK Activation by G Protein-coupled Receptors (T. Gudermann); Heterogeneity of Second Messenger Levels in Living Cells (M. Zaccolo, et al.); Humoral Coding and Decoding (K. Prank, et al.); From Genes to Whole Organs: Connecting Biochemistry to Physiology (D. Noble); Development of High-Throughput Tools to Unravel the Complexity of Gene Expression Patterns in the Mammalian Brain (U. Herzig, et al.); Regulation of Gene Expression by Action Potentials: Dependence on Complexity in Cellular Information Processing (R. Fields, et al.); Efficiency and Complexity in Neural Coding (S. Laughlin); Neural Dynamics in Cortical Networks Precision of Joint-Spiking Events (A. Aertsen, et al.); Predictive Learing of Temproal Sequences in Recurrent Neocortical Circuits (R. Rao & T. Sejnowski); Final Discussion; Index of Contributors; Subject Index.