Socratic Learn
Get started
Research map/Weizmann Institute of Science/Uri Alon

Professor research guide

Uri Alon

Research seeking simple quantitative design principles that explain biological circuits, physiology, disease, tissue dynamics, and aging.

Biological design principlesBistabilityDiabetesDynamical compensationDynamical systemsFeed-forward loopsFeedback controlFibrosisGene regulatory networksGompertz lawHormone regulationInflammationNetwork motifsPeriodic Table of DiseasesPhysiological circuitsPredictive medicineRobustnessSaturated removal modelSenescenceSpatial proteomicsSystems agingSystems biologySystems medicineTissue dynamics

Independent educational guide. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the universities, professors or laboratories described here. This collection reflects the material currently mapped on Socratic Learn.

Associated labs and groups

Your recommended path

Learn this research

Research primer

Design Principles of Life, Disease, and Aging

9 lessons · ~48 minutes

An independent primer on systems biology, network motifs, physiological circuit fragilities, the Periodic Table of Diseases, and quantitative approaches to aging.

Watch videos
  1. 01Systems biology: finding simplicity inside complexity
  2. 02Network motifs: the recurring circuits of biology
  3. 03How do you discover a design principle?
  4. 04Systems medicine: when a useful circuit creates a disease
  5. 05Hormone circuits: robustness, diabetes, and slow physiological memory
  6. 06Immune circuits, inflammation, and fibrosis as dynamical systems
  7. 07A periodic table of diseases
  8. 08Systems aging: why does risk rise so sharply with age?
  9. 09Where the Alon Lab is going now: tissues, aging, and predictive medicine

Key concepts

Bistability and inflammatory/fibrotic circuit dynamics

Interpret alternative stable states and history dependence in fibrosis models.

Dynamical compensation and hormone feedback

Explain dynamical compensation in glucose-insulin models.

Fast signaling versus slow tissue adaptation

Distinguish fast hormone signals from slow gland-mass adaptation.

Feed-forward loops and autoregulatory circuit functions

Predict conditional functions of feed-forward loops and negative autoregulation.

Feedback, mutant surveillance, and physiological fragility

Distinguish feedback hypotheses from universal explanations of autoimmunity.

Fixed points, stability, nonlinearity, and experiment

Test fixed-point stability and predictions against dynamic measurements.

Function → design → fragility → disease

Treat disease fragility as a testable systems-medicine hypothesis.

Gompertz mortality and quantitative aging patterns

Interpret approximate population mortality patterns.

Inferring tissue dynamics from spatial snapshots

Explain model-based inference of tissue dynamics from spatial snapshots.

Minimal dynamical models and ordinary differential equations

Interpret production-minus-removal ordinary differential equations.

Network motifs and randomized null models

Compare motif counts with a degree-preserving randomized null model.

Periodic Table of Diseases framework

Read the periodic table as a systems-medicine teaching framework.

Recurrent disease classes from circuit fragilities

Use tissue-design patterns to formulate limited disease hypotheses.

Robustness and circuit-level explanation

Distinguish robustness of one function from robustness of every property.

Saturated removal model and damage accumulation

Distinguish saturating damage removal from a universally established aging mechanism.

Systems biology and biological design principles

Explain biological behavior through interacting components and dynamics.

Systems medicine and physiological circuit design

Relate physiological function to circuit design.

Systems-level prediction in aging and medicine

Interpret population heritability and predictive findings within their assumptions.

Important papers

Nature · 1999

Robustness in bacterial chemotaxis

U. Alon, M. G. Surette, N. Barkai & S. Leibler

Why this matters: Tests robustness of adaptation precision while other dynamic properties vary.

DOI: 10.1038/16483

Mol. Syst. Biol · 2016

Dynamical compensation in physiological circuits

O. Karin, A. Swisa, B. Glaser, Y. Dor & U. Alon

Why this matters: Shows how slow adaptation can preserve dynamic regulation in physiological models.

DOI: 10.15252/msb.20167216