Control Theory for Synthetic Biology: Recent Advances in System Characterization, Control Design, and Controller Implementation for Synthetic Biology

Title	Control Theory for Synthetic Biology: Recent Advances in System Characterization, Control Design, and Controller Implementation for Synthetic Biology
Authors	Victoria Hsiao, Anandh Swaminathan and and Richard M. Murray
Source	IEEE Control Systems Magazine, 38(3):32-62 , June 2018
Abstract	This survey aims to provide a general overview of relevant terms and resources for understanding the intersection of synthetic biology and control theory. A reader with a background in control theory should come away with a reasonable understanding of the current 24 state-of-the-art of biological system identification, controller design and implementation, and the open challenges facing the field. Additionally, this review updates and builds upon previous publications on this subject. As this particular work is limited to a selected number of topics, additional reviews are suggested throughout the text for deeper reading. In the following sections, each of the challenges is addressed within the typical workflow for control implementation of more traditionally engineered systems (Figure 1). Engineered biological systems present a number of challenges to all stages of this workflow for reasons such as limitations in real-time measurement, resource competition with the host organism, and incomplete knowledge of underlying biological processes. First, strategies for framing a biologi- cal organism as a system with defined inputs, outputs, sensors, actuators, and measurements are discussed (Figure 1a). Obtaining dynamic and reliable measurements within biological organisms is a daunting challenge, engineered or otherwise. An overview of the state-of-the-art tools for modeling and characterizing biological systems is presented, followed by system identification methods specifically designed for the types of data available from biological measurements. The difficulty in engineering complex genetic networks, combined with severe limitations in real- time measurement, means that the body of work for controller design (Figure 1b) is limited – as a result, we discuss the open problems and challenges awaiting the entrepreneurial reader, and also present a number of examples of feedback loop implementation in living cells (Figure 1c). Finally, the necessary challenges in synthetic biology and development of control theoretical frameworks that need to be addressed in order to advance the field are discussed.
Type	Journal paper
URL	http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/preprints/hsm17-ieeecsm.pdf
DOI
Tag	hsm17-ieeecsm
ID	2017j
Funding	AFOSR BRI, ARO ICB
Flags	Biocircuits