LOCAL CONTROLLABILITY OF BIOLOGICAL NETWORKS

Abstract

The research on complex networks has gained extensive interest in the last two decades, but studies on network control are relatively recent. With tools from network science and linear system theory, we proposed a new framework for network control, called ?local controllability?, and applied local controllability to biological networks as well as model networks. In this thesis, we will first review some results related to structural controllability and network controllability. Then, we give a mathematical definition for local controllability, and present a cubic-time algorithm to calculating the local controllability . With the framework of local controllability, we will then study biological networks, including mouse inter-region brain networks and human transcription factor regulatory networks; and model networks, including ER random networks and scale-free networks.