Research Overview: Difference between revisions

From Murray Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
← Older edit
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
 
(85 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
This page contains a brief summary of my group's current research activities, broken up into the three main areas that cover 90% of our activities.  More information is available on the individual project pages below and also in the recent [http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/cgi-bin/htdblist.cgi?papers/config.db publications] from my group.
This page contains a brief summary of my group's current research activities, broken up into the two main areas.  More information is available on the individual project pages below and also in the recent [http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/cgi-bin/htdblist.cgi?papers/config.db publications] from my group.


=== Biomolecular Feedback Systems ===
== Developer Cells ==


[[Image:bfs-overview.png|right|320px]]
{| style="float: right" border=1
Feedback systems are a central part of natural biological systems and an important tool for engineering biocircuits that behave in a desirable fashion.  The figure at the right gives a brief overview of the approach we are taking to both synthetic and systems biology. There are three main elements to our research:
|-
* Systems biology - we are working to develop rigorous tools for analyzing the behavior (~phenotype) of complex biomolecular systems based on data-driven models. We are particularly interested in systems involving feedback, since causal reasoning often fails in these systems due to the interaction of multiple components and pathways.   Work in this are includes system identification, theory for understanding the role of feedback, and methods for building and analyzing models built using high-throughput datasets.
| [[Image:biocircuits-overview-23Aug2021.png|right|320px]]
* ''In vitro'' testbeds
|}
* Biocircuit design
Advances in synthetic biology and molecular sciences have substantially advanced our ability to produce genetically-programmed synthetic cells from molecular components. These efforts provide techniques for the bottom-up construction of cell-like systems that can provide scientists with new insights into how natural cells work and harness the power of biology to create nanoscale, biomolecular machines. Work in the US through the Build-A-Cell consortium and similar efforts in other countries have established communities of researchers interested in pursuing the construction of synthetic cells, and these activities are an exciting pathway for exploration of the rules of life. The long term goal of our research is to create genetically-programmed, non-replicating synthetic cells ("developer cells") consisting of multiple subsystems operating in an integrated fashion. Unlike more traditional synthetic biology approaches, developer cells are non-living: they make use of genetic elements provided by biology, but they do not replicate, mutate, or evolve. Applications range from synthesis of bio-compatible materials, to environmental monitoring and remediation, to self-assembly of complex multi-cellular machines. Pursuing this goal requires fundamental research in biological engineering, aimed at moving from creation of clever biomolecular devices to systematic specification, design, integration, and testing of circuits, subsystems, cells, and multi-component systems.


Current projects:
Current projects:
{{#ask:
  [[Category:Active projects]]
  [[Category:Biocircuits projects]]
  | ?agency =
  | format = ul
  | sort=Start date
  | order=descending
}}


=== Robotics and Autonomy ===
Recent journal papers:
{{#ask:
  [[Category:Papers]]
  [[type::Journal paper]]
  [[flags::Biocircuits]]
  | ?authors =  
  | ?source =  
  | ?year =  
  | format = ul
  | sort=ID
  | order=descending
  | limit=6
}}


Current projects:
<span id=NCS>
 
== Control Theory ==
</span>


=== Networked Control Systems ===
{| style="float: right" border=1
|-
| [[Image:ncs-hierarchical.png|right|320px]]
|}
We are investigating the specification, design and verification of distributed systems that combine communications, computation and control in dynamic, uncertain and adversarial environments. Our goal is to develop methods and tools for designing control policies, specifying the properties of the resulting distributed embedded system and the physical environment, and proving that the specifications are met. In our past work, we have developed a promising set of results in automatic synthesis of protocols for hybrid (discrete and continuous state) dynamical systems that are guaranteed to satisfy the desired properties even in the presence of environmental action. The desired properties are expressed in the language of temporal logic, and the resulting system consists of a discrete planner that plans, in the abstracted discrete domain, a set of transitions of the system to ensure the correct behaviors, and a continuous controller that continuously implements the plan. More recently, we have shifted our focus to design of specifications -- including horizontal and vertical contracts for multi-agent, layered control systems -- and operational test and evaluation of complex control systems that react to environmental conditions.  Application areas include UAVs, autonomous driving, and space systems.


Current projects:
Current projects:
{{#ask:
  [[Category:Active projects]]
  [[Category:NCS projects]]
  | ?agency =
  | format = ul
  | sort=Start date
  | order=descending
}}
Recent papers:
{{#ask:
  [[Category:Papers]]
  [[flags::NCS]]
  | ?authors =
  | ?source =
  | ?year =
  | format = ul
  | sort=ID
  | order=descending
  | limit=6
}}

Latest revision as of 13:54, 7 November 2026

This page contains a brief summary of my group's current research activities, broken up into the two main areas. More information is available on the individual project pages below and also in the recent publications from my group.

Developer Cells

Advances in synthetic biology and molecular sciences have substantially advanced our ability to produce genetically-programmed synthetic cells from molecular components. These efforts provide techniques for the bottom-up construction of cell-like systems that can provide scientists with new insights into how natural cells work and harness the power of biology to create nanoscale, biomolecular machines. Work in the US through the Build-A-Cell consortium and similar efforts in other countries have established communities of researchers interested in pursuing the construction of synthetic cells, and these activities are an exciting pathway for exploration of the rules of life. The long term goal of our research is to create genetically-programmed, non-replicating synthetic cells ("developer cells") consisting of multiple subsystems operating in an integrated fashion. Unlike more traditional synthetic biology approaches, developer cells are non-living: they make use of genetic elements provided by biology, but they do not replicate, mutate, or evolve. Applications range from synthesis of bio-compatible materials, to environmental monitoring and remediation, to self-assembly of complex multi-cellular machines. Pursuing this goal requires fundamental research in biological engineering, aimed at moving from creation of clever biomolecular devices to systematic specification, design, integration, and testing of circuits, subsystems, cells, and multi-component systems.

Current projects:

Recent journal papers:

... further results

Control Theory

We are investigating the specification, design and verification of distributed systems that combine communications, computation and control in dynamic, uncertain and adversarial environments. Our goal is to develop methods and tools for designing control policies, specifying the properties of the resulting distributed embedded system and the physical environment, and proving that the specifications are met. In our past work, we have developed a promising set of results in automatic synthesis of protocols for hybrid (discrete and continuous state) dynamical systems that are guaranteed to satisfy the desired properties even in the presence of environmental action. The desired properties are expressed in the language of temporal logic, and the resulting system consists of a discrete planner that plans, in the abstracted discrete domain, a set of transitions of the system to ensure the correct behaviors, and a continuous controller that continuously implements the plan. More recently, we have shifted our focus to design of specifications -- including horizontal and vertical contracts for multi-agent, layered control systems -- and operational test and evaluation of complex control systems that react to environmental conditions. Application areas include UAVs, autonomous driving, and space systems.

Current projects:


Recent papers:

... further results

Retrieved from "https://murray.cds.caltech.edu/index.php?title=Research_Overview&oldid=27283"