Dynamics of technological and biological networks
- Reference number
- I06-0251
- Start and end dates
- 070901-110331
- Amount granted
- 3 000 000 SEK
- Administrative organization
- Umeå University
- Research area
- Information, Communication and Systems Technology
Summary
Every system made up of entities that interact pairwise can be modeled as a network. Large real networks, whether in society, nature or technology are usually to some extent random, but they having certain. These regularities, the network structure, contain information about the forces forming the network. Network structures also affect dynamic systems (Internet traffic, disease spreading, etc.) on the network. I plan to use network theories to study the communication networks and networked microbiological systems. I intend study a number of rather specific problems in these two areas. For example I plan to use network theory to: construct efficient and reliable routing strategies for the Internet and Internet applications; study how a overload-sensitive network can be restored after a disaster (like a power-grid after a storm); and to answer how all available information can be utilized to make useful network representations of cellular biochemistry. I expect these projects will give concrete results in all of these issues. For the communication networks the results can quite soon be turned into useful technology; for the biological projects my work will be one step on the way to make network theory useful as a tool for medical biochemistry (ultimately for drug discovery). As for the Swedish research community, I hope to establish an interdisciplinary complex systems group with a more applied-science profile than the current groups.