Designing feedback control in biology for robustness and scalability

In order to achieve its vast potential as a rigorous engineering discipline, Synthetic Biology requires a design framework that produces reliable and scalable biomolecular devices that can be combined into systems with sophisticated computational capabilities. Current biosynthetic systems are characterised by high levels of uncertainty and very limited re-usability of designs in different contexts, often leading to design failures in vivo. Below, we summarise the work we are undertaking to address the challenges of robustness, reliability, and scalability. We use tools adapted from nonlinear robust control theory to model and design synthetic biomolecular systems that exploit feedbacks at various scales, or layers, of biological organisation. For a detailed review of previous literature on the use of feedback control in synthetic biology.