Synthetic Cellular Memory

Synthetic cellular memory refers to the engineering of living organisms to produce a protracted response to a transient stimulus. In the short term, construction of such gene networks provides a more thorough understanding of natural systems. By matching experimental results with mathematical models, we can put our knowledge of systems biology to the test. In the long run, cellular memory promises to be a key component of synthetic biological design. While current research efforts have been directed at the production of a reporter gene in response to some input, memory circuits hold the potential to be incorporated into more complex gene networks. Engineered cell differentiation, detection of hazardous materials in drinking water, and other such applications of synthetic devices could all one day depend on modular memory circuits similar to the ones described in this paper.

Brief Introduction paragraph

Explanation of how things will be explained:

1. How to biologically construct memory?

2. Mathematical Models of these constructs

3. Examples of 3 different types of memory in 3 different types of organisms.

---A. In 2000, a genetic toggle switch was created in E. coli.

---B. In 2005, a hysteretic switch was created in mammalian cells.

---C. In 2007, a permanant cellular memory unit (meaning that it remembered being in a given state even when it no longer existed in that state) was created in yeast.

4. Conclusions and Future Directions of the Field