Research
My research interests include the analysis and control of dynamical systems, identification and state estimation for stochastic systems, with focus on systems biology applications.
Ongoing Projects
Growth rate control in E. coli
(with J.-L. Gouzé and M. Chaves)
In the framework of the ANR project GeMCo we developed and analyzed a model of a minimal synthetic gene circuit, that describes part of the gene expression machinery in Escherichia coli, and enables the control of the growth rate of the cells during the exponential phase. This model is a piecewise non-linear system with two variables (the concentrations of two gene products) and an input (an inducer). We studied the qualitative dynamics of the model and the bifurcation diagram with respect to the input. Moreover, an analytic expression of the growth rate during the exponential phase as function of the input was derived.
State estimation at the level of single cells
(with E. Cinquemani)
We address state estimation for gene regulatory networks at the level of single cells. We consider models that include both intrinsic noise, in terms of stochastic dynamics, and extrinsic noise, in terms of random parameter values. We take the Chemical Master Equation (CME) with random parameters as a reference modelling approach of gene expression in single cells, and investigate the use of stochastic differential model approximations for the construction of practical real-time filters.