W10: Mathematical Modeling of Cell Signaling

Molecular biology has taught us a great deal about what is happening inside a cell, that is that pathways can get very complicated and life is not just independent pathways but networks. Fortunately, we can use computational tools to understand dynamics of complex networks. This workshop introduces the basic concepts of modeling cell signaling pathways. In this workshop we will describe signaling pathways and network motifs using mathematical equations and will be using MATLAB to solve and plot dynamical solutions. This workshop will cover zero-, first-, and second- order chemical reaction networks and their differential equations, including how to solve them. We will explore simple signaling pathways like the MAP Kinase cascade and other simplified cascades. Finally, this workshop will go over network motifs as they relate to signaling such as positive and negative feedback, double positive and negative feedback, and feedforward loops. This workshop will include many hands-on activities with MATLAB.