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Published March 2015 | Accepted Version
Journal Article Open

Napoleon Is in Equilibrium

Abstract

It has been said that the cell is the test tube of the twenty-first century. If so, the theoretical tools needed to quantitatively and predictively describe what goes on in such test tubes lag sorely behind the stunning experimental advances in biology seen in the decades since the molecular biology revolution began. Perhaps surprisingly, one of the theoretical tools that has been used with great success on problems ranging from how cells communicate with their environment and each other to the nature of the organization of proteins and lipids within the cell membrane is statistical mechanics. A knee-jerk reaction to the use of statistical mechanics in the description of cellular processes is that living organisms are so far from equilibrium that one has no business even thinking about it. But such reactions are probably too hasty given that there are many regimes in which, because of a separation of timescales, for example, such an approach can be a useful first step. In this article, we explore the power of statistical mechanical thinking in the biological setting, with special emphasis on cell signaling and regulation. We show how such models are used to make predictions and describe some recent experiments designed to test them. We also consider the limits of such models based on the relative timescales of the processes of interest.

Additional Information

© 2015 Annual reviews. The chance to learn about this beautiful subject has served as the foundation of the happiest decade of my scientific life. This pleasure has in no small part derived from the privilege of learning from a broad array of distinguished scientists, including Lacra Bintu, James Boedicker, Rob Brewster, Robijn Bruinsma, Nick Buchler, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Robert Endres, Uli Gerland, Ido Golding, Terry Hwa, Tom Kuhlman, Jim Langer, Mitch Lewis, Sarah Marzen, Leonid Mirny, Alvaro Sanchez, Eran Segal, Franz Weinert, Ned Wingreen, and Jon Widom. This also includes the many students and postdocs that have joined in this adventure in my own laboratory. I need to particularly call out Hernan Garcia, Jane Kondev, Ron Milo, Nigel Orme, and Julie Theriot, with whom I have collaborated on decade-long book writing projects that have been among the most exciting experiences of my professional life. It is from these treasured collaborators that I have learned the most. The opinions and point of view expressed here are my own and those acknowledged above may not agree with a variety of things that they find in this article. It has also been a privilege to be entrusted by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, The California Institute of Technology, and La Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes with the funds that make this kind of research possible, and for that I will be eternally grateful. Specifically, I am grateful to the NIH for support through award numbers DP1 OD000217 (Director's Pioneer Award) and R01 GM085286.

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Created:
August 22, 2023
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October 23, 2023