Athena: Modular CAM/CAD Software for Synthetic Biology

dc.creatorChandran, Deepak
dc.creatorBergmann, Frank T.
dc.creatorSauro, Herbert M.
dc.date2009-02-16
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:42:11Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:42:11Z
dc.descriptionSynthetic biology is the engineering of cellular networks. It combines principles of engineering and the knowledge of biological networks to program the behavior of cells. Computational modeling techniques in conjunction with molecular biology techniques have been successful in constructing biological devices such as switches, oscillators, and gates. The ambition of synthetic biology is to construct complex systems from such fundamental devices, much in the same way electronic circuits are built from basic parts. As this ambition becomes a reality, engineering concepts such as interchangeable parts and encapsulation will find their way into biology. We realize that there is a need for computational tools that would support such engineering concepts in biology. As a solution, we have developed the software Athena that allows biological models to be constructed as modules. Modules can be connected to one another without altering the modules themselves. In addition, Athena houses various tools useful for designing synthetic networks including tools to perform simulations, automatically derive transcription rate expressions, and view and edit synthetic DNA sequences. New tools can be incorporated into Athena without modifying existing program via a plugin interface, IronPython scripts, Systems Biology Workbench interfacing and the R statistical language. The program is currently for Windows operating systems, and the source code for Athena is made freely available through CodePlex, www.codeplex.com/athena.
dc.description17 pages, 7 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0902.2598
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0902.2598
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/219990
dc.subjectQuantitative Methods
dc.subjectMolecular Networks
dc.titleAthena: Modular CAM/CAD Software for Synthetic Biology
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