ANTICHAOS IN BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Review paper presented at Biotechcellence'99
February13th-14th 1999
Anna university, Chennai

ABSTRACT:

All living things are highly ordered systems: they have intricate structures that are maintained and duplicated through a precise ballet of chemical and behavioral activities.
Recently, the innate property of some complex systems has been discovered which has been termed self-organization. It is possible that biological order reflects in part a spontaneous order on which selection has acted.
Self-organization is basically a process of evolution where the effect of the environment is minimal i.e. the development of new, complex structures takes place primarily through the system itself. Self-organization can be understood on the basis of the same variation and natural selection processes as other environmentally driven processes of evolution. On the basis of mathematical models for biological systems that exhibit self-organization, predictions have been made that are consistent with the observed properties of organisms. This review paper is an attempt to reflect the onset of cooperativity between the constituent elements of a system which can give rise to unexpected structures and events whose properties can be quite different in the form of abrupt transitions, a multiplicity of states, pattern formation on an irregular, markedly unpredictable evolution in space and time.

When I perceive a flower; an emotion; a mind in movement; a growth; a dead squirrel or a humanbeing, questions animate themselves within me. There are no hardships to endure externally; only moments to observe closely; knowledge to explore and situations to deal with. There is in me the eagerness that would venture anywhere with a certainty that life holds nothing unworthy of or closed to discovery.
I would like to do one important thing-teach children Science-in freedom, in the great joy that comes from discovering and without encasing their longing for knowledge in the rigor of grades because it is important for children to learn how to see.

Milestones:
§ Class topper since fourth class and School topper in tenth class.
§ Recipient of the Best student award sponsored by the Lions Club of Chennai.
§ During UG I have worked in social awareness programs for AIDS, Malaria, Vaccination; in preparing colorful teaching aids for preschool children and explaining Science to school children through simple experiments.
§ Participation in various seminars on Immunology, Bioinformatics, Developmental Biology and Biochemistry which helped me to interact with wonderful scientists from diverse fields.