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Elsevier

On Growth, Form and Computers

  • 1st Edition - October 3, 2003
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Sanjeev Kumar, Peter J. Bentley
  • Language: English

Conceived for both computer scientists and biologists alike, this collection of 22 essays highlights the important new role that computers play in developmental biology research.… Read more

Description

Conceived for both computer scientists and biologists alike, this collection of 22 essays highlights the important new role that computers play in developmental biology research. Essays show how through computer modeling, researchers gain further insight into developmental processes. Featured essays also cover their use in designing computer algorithms to tackle computer science problems in areas like neural network design, robot control, evolvable hardware, and more. Peter Bentley, noted for his prolific research on evolutionary computation, and Sanjeev Kumar head up a respected team to guide readers through these very complex and fascinating disciplines.

Key features

* Covers both developmental biology and computational development -- the only book of its kind!
* Provides introductory material and more detailed information on BOTH disciplines
* Includes contribututions from Richard Dawkins, Lewis Wolpert, Ian Stewart, and many other experts

Readership

Academic researchers and students in evolutionary biology, developmental biology, anatomy, and computer science, artificial life, and evolutionary computation.

Table of contents

An Introduction to Computational Development
Relationships Between Development and Evolution
The Principles of Cell Signalling
From Genotype to Phenotype
Plasticity & Reprogramming of Differentiated Cells in Amphibian Regeneration
Qualitative Modelling & Simulation of Developmental Regulatory Networks
Models for Pattern Formation & the Position-Specific Activation of Genes
Signalling in Multicellular Models of Plant Development
Computing An Organism
Broken Symmetries & Biological Patterns
Using Mechanics to Map Genotype to Phenotype
How Synthetic Biology Provides Insights into Contact-Mediated Lateral Inhibition & other Mechanisms
The Evolution of Evolvability
Artificial Genomes as Models of Gene Regulation
Evolving the Program for a Cell
Combining Developmental Processes & Their Physics in an Artificial Evolutionary System to Evolve Shapes
Evolution of Differentiated Multi-threaded Digital Organisms
Artificial Life Models of Neural Development Evolving Computational Neural Systems Using Synthetic Developmental Mechanisms
A Developmental Model for the Evolution of Complete Autonomous Agents
Harnessing Morphogenesis
Evolvable Hardware

Review quotes

"The book has all the materials—case studies from the seashore, the growing flower-garden, and desert-striding camels; background engineering and developmental genetics; as well as conceptual and inspirational pieces—to equip the biologists and computer scientists who will take the subject forward."—Mark Ridley, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: March 30, 2012
  • Language: English

About the editors

SK

Sanjeev Kumar

Affiliations and expertise
Department of Computer Science, University College London, U.K.

PB

Peter J. Bentley

Peter J. Bentley is a Honorary Research Fellow at University College London, known for his research covering all aspects of EC, including multiobjective optimization, constraint handling, artificial immune systems, computational embryology and more, and applied to diverse applications including floor-planning, control, fraud-detection, and music composition. He speaks regularly at international conferences, and is a consultant, convenor, chair and reviewer for workshops, conferences, journals and books on Evolutionary Design and Evolutionary Computation. He has been a guest editor of special issues on Evolutionary Design and Creative Evolutionary Systems in journals, and is the editor of the book Evolutionary Design by Computers (MKP) and is the author of the popular science book, Digital Biology, to publish in May 2001.

Affiliations and expertise
University College London, U.K.

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