René Thomas (molecular biologist)

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René Thomas

René Thomas (born May 14, 1928 in Ixelles ; † January 9, 2017 in Rixensart ) was a Belgian biologist who dealt with mathematical modeling of processes in cells (theoretical biology). He was professor at the Free University of Brussels , where he worked at the Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems.

Career

Thomas received his doctorate in 1952 from the Free University of Brussels (Recherches sur la spécificité des acides nucléiques) and initially dealt with the denaturation of DNA (discovered by him in his dissertation in 1951) and control of bacteriophage reproduction (discovery of transactivation of virus genes in 1965 ).

He was known for discrete (logical) models of the regulatory networks in cells, which are an alternative to modeling with differential equations. In addition, he mathematically investigated the function of feedback in biological systems, whereby positive feedback according to Thomas is important for the existence of several possible states (multistationarity) (e.g. memory, differentiation in developmental biology), negative feedback for the existence of attractors (stable, limit cycles or chaotic).

In 1999 he received the Grande médaille de l'Académie des sciences and in 1975 he received the Francqui Prize .

Fonts

  • with M. Kaufman: Multistationarity, the basis of cell differentiation and memory. I. Structural conditions of multistationarity and other nontrivial behavior . In: Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science . tape 11 , no. 1 , March 2001, p. 170-179 , doi : 10.1063 / 1.1350439 .
  • with M. Kaufman: Multistationarity, the basis of cell differentiation and memory. II. Logical analysis of regulatory networks in terms of feedback circuits . In: Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science . tape 11 , no. 1 , March 2001, p. 180-195 , doi : 10.1063 / 1.1349893 .
  • Boolean formalization of genetic control circuits . In: Journal of Theoretical Biology . tape 42 , no. 3 , December 1973, pp. 563-585 , doi : 10.1016 / 0022-5193 (73) 90247-6 .
  • On the Relation Between the Logical Structure of Systems and Their Ability to Generate Multiple Steady States or Sustained Oscillations . In: Jean Della Dora, Jacques Demongeot, Bernard Lacolle (Eds.): Numerical Methods in the Study of Critical Phenomena (=  Springer Series in Synergetics ). Volume 9. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 1981, ISBN 978-3-642-81705-2 , p. 180-193 .
  • with S. Brenner, W. Dove, I. Herskowitz: Genes and Development: Molecular and Logical Themes . In: Genetics . tape 126 , no. 3 , November 1990, pp. 479-486 , PMID 2249752 .
  • with M. Kaufman, J. Urbain: Towards a logical analysis of the immune response . In: Journal of Theoretical Biology . tape 114 , no. 4 , June 21, 1985, pp. 527-561 , doi : 10.1016 / S0022-5193 (85) 80042-4 .
  • with R. D'Ari: Biological Feedback . CRC Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8493-6766-2 .
  • as editor: Kinetic logic: a boolean approach to the analysis of complex regulatory systems . In: René Thomas (Ed.): Lecture notes in biomathematics . tape 29 , 1979.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ academieroyale.be , accessed on April 6, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Thomas, René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian theoretical biologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Ixelles
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 2017
Place of death Rixensart