Biological networks, as physical systems, comprise interconnected biomolecular or cellular components whose interactions give rise to emergent functional organization in living organisms. They include gene regulatory, protein–protein interaction, metabolic, neuronal, and signaling networks, each instantiated by tangible entities such as DNA, proteins, metabolites, or cells and their spatially constrained contacts. These systems exhibit nontrivial topology (e.g., modularity, hubs, motifs) and dynamic behavior governed by biochemical reaction kinetics, diffusion, and mechanical coupling. Biological networks underpin robustness, adaptability, and information processing in cells and tissues, and are quantitatively studied using tools from statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics, and network theory.
Scientists are uncovering the secrets of a fast-acting molecular messaging network that strongly influences how people and all organisms adjust and react to the world around them.
Biotechnology
Sep 4, 2025
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124
Previously, research on controlling gene networks has been carried out based on a single stimulus-response of cells. More recently, studies have been proposed to precisely analyze complex gene networks to identify control ...
Biotechnology
Aug 31, 2025
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106
To study growth-defense trade-offs in the context of metabolism in crops, scientists from the Universities of Potsdam and Erlangen, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, and the National Institute of Biology, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 11, 2025
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17
Most genes are ancient and shared across species. But a small subset of genes are relative newcomers, spontaneously emerging from stretches of DNA that once encoded nothing at all.
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 14, 2025
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101
The brain's ability to process information is known to be supported by intricate connections between different neuron populations. A key objective of neuroscience research has been to delineate the processes via which these ...
"As complex living systems, we likely have trillions upon trillions of tiny nanoscopic holes in our cells that facilitate and regulate the crucial processes that keep us alive and make up who are," says Marija Drndić, a physicist ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 12, 2024
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55
RNA droplets can now be used to perform logical operations that take microRNA sequences as inputs, report scientists from Tokyo Tech. By self-assembling into network-like structures, RNA molecules form liquid-state droplets. ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 7, 2024
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130
A team of researchers from the Institute for Optoelectronic Systems and Microtechnology at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) has designed a biosensor capable of identifying proteins and peptides in quantities as low ...
Jason R. McCarthy, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical research and translational medicine and scientific operations director at MMRI, recently published a study titled, "Biomimetic Nanomaterials for the Immunomodulation ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 20, 2023
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109
Biological computing machines, such as micro and nano-implants that can collect important information inside the human body, are transforming medicine. Yet, networking them for communication has proven challenging. Now, a ...
Bio & Medicine
Nov 22, 2023
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