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design tools in the form analysis and modeling approaches that reliably predict
the behavior of whole-cell components are required to enable the rational engi-
neering of these hybrid systems. Such tools are considered indispensable in the
analogous field of electronic circuit design, and they are likely to play a similar
role in the design of hybrid systems that include whole cell components.
The frequency domain gene circuit analysis techniques described here illus-
trate an important connection between insights developed through more than a
century of electronic circuit design and the currently developing understanding
of the architecture of naturally occurring genetic circuits. These insights will aid
both in the design of synthetic gene circuits and in the elucidation of naturally
occurring gene circuits, leading to an infrequently encountered parallel and
simultaneous development of both an engineering and a basic science disci-
pline. It is even possible that these efforts will go full circle with new electronic
circuit topologies arising from a deeper understanding of the structure of gene
circuits.
Although recent progress has been encouraging, and in some cases even re-
markable, this field is very much in its infancy. The scientific and technological
challenges are significant, but educational and research cultural issues loom
just as large. The full breadth of this endeavor encompasses cell, molecular,
and microbiology; electrical, computer, and material science and engineering;
chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Graduate education and research pro-
grams will need to become more integrated and flexible to promote the training
of new research professionals to address these issues. Furthermore, peer re-
view panels will have to become more tolerant of multi- and interdisciplinary
research proposals to allow funding to flow into these areas. With these changes,
an entirely new discipline will eventually emerge, and a new technology will
evolve into a practical reality.
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