Classification of Self-Organization and Emergence in Chemical and Biological Systems

ChemInform ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne D. Halley ◽  
David A. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Biological Systems ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Chemical And Biological Systems

Classification of Self-Organization and Emergence in Chemical and Biological Systems

2006 ◽  
Vol 59 (12) ◽  
pp. 849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne D. Halley ◽  
David A. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Chemical And Biological Systems ◽  
Complex Systems Science

Most chemical and biological systems are complex, but the application of complex systems science to these fields is relatively new compared to the traditional reductionist approaches. Complexity can provide a new paradigm for understanding the behaviour of interesting chemical and biological systems, and new tools for studying, modelling, and simulating them. It is also likely that some very important, but very complicated systems may not be accessible by reductionist approaches. This paper provides a brief review of two important concepts in complexity, self-organization and emergence, and describes why they are relevant to chemical and biological systems

scholarly journals Geometric Effect for Biological Reactors and Biological Fluids

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazusa Beppu ◽  
Ziane Izri ◽  
Yusuke Maeda ◽  
Ryota Sakamoto
Keyword(s):  
Biological Fluids ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Active Matter ◽  
Confined Space ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Motile Cells ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
A Cell

As expressed “God made the bulk; the surface was invented by the devil” by W. Pauli, the surface has remarkable properties because broken symmetry in surface alters the material properties. In biological systems, the smallest functional and structural unit, which has a functional bulk space enclosed by a thin interface, is a cell. Cells contain inner cytosolic soup in which genetic information stored in DNA can be expressed through transcription (TX) and translation (TL). The exploration of cell-sized confinement has been recently investigated by using micron-scale droplets and microfluidic devices. In the first part of this review article, we describe recent developments of cell-free bioreactors where bacterial TX-TL machinery and DNA are encapsulated in these cell-sized compartments. Since synthetic biology and microfluidics meet toward the bottom-up assembly of cell-free bioreactors, the interplay between cellular geometry and TX-TL advances better control of biological structure and dynamics in vitro system. Furthermore, biological systems that show self-organization in confined space are not limited to a single cell, but are also involved in the collective behavior of motile cells, named active matter. In the second part, we describe recent studies where collectively ordered patterns of active matter, from bacterial suspensions to active cytoskeleton, are self-organized. Since geometry and topology are vital concepts to understand the ordered phase of active matter, a microfluidic device with designed compartments allows one to explore geometric principles behind self-organization across the molecular scale to cellular scale. Finally, we discuss the future perspectives of a microfluidic approach to explore the further understanding of biological systems from geometric and topological aspects.

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