Professor David Rand

David Rand is Professor of Mathematics and directs the Warwick Systems Biology Centre (WSB). He is also an Associate Director of the Warwick BBSRC/EPSRC Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre. Until August 2005 he was Chair of Warwick's Mathematics Institute. He currently holds an EPSRC Senior Research Fellowship.

Currently, his main research interest is Systems Biology, particularly understanding the design principles of regulatory and signalling systems in cells, but he also still publishes in Dynamical Systems.

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News:

New book by Pinto, Rand and Ferreira now available from Springer:

A A. Pinto, D A. Rand and F Ferreira, Fine Structures of Hyperbolic Diffeomorphisms, Springer Monographs in Mathematics ISSN 1439-7382 (published October 22nd, 2008). Book web page here. Flyer

On surfaces the theory of the fine scale structure of hyperbolic invariant sets and their measures can be described in a very complete and elegant way. This is the subject of this book. A very substantial part of the exposition is the outcome of the ongoing research programme of Pinto & Rand that was started in the mid-90s. There are also a number of new developments in the book such as the pseudo-smooth structures for pseudo-Anosov systems.

Available now: new global sensitivity analysis tools developed by Paul Brown and David Rand. These enable one to calculate and display the sensitivity heat maps and parameters sensitivity spectrum introduced recently by David Rand. The software is driven bt three GUIs. On the download page you just click on the file called Time Series Sensitivity Analysis. Download. Older clocks software available. This is older stuff produced by Paul Brown, Boris Shulgin and David Rand. Download.

PhD studentships available from BBSRC/EPSRC Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre for students with a mathematical or physical sciences background or a biological one. To find out more contact Vicky Buchanan-Wollaston (vicky.b-wollaston@warwick.ac.uk) who directs the DTC. More ...

Some recent papers now available

The basic mathematical tools you need for experimental design and sensitivity analysis for stochastic regulatory or signalling systems. Uses the linear noise approximation.

M. Komorowski, M. Costa, D. A. Rand, and M. L. Stumpf, Sensitivity of stochastic chemical kinetics models. PNAS 2011 108 (21) 8645-8650

High-resolution temporal expression profiling and network reconstruction to study plant senescence as part of the PRESTA Project.

E Breeze et al. High-Resolution Temporal Profiling of Transcripts during Arabidopsis Leaf Senescence Reveals a Distinct Chronology of Processes and Regulation. The Plant Cell, Vol. 23: (2011) 1–22.

Transcription dynamics from two loci in real time in single cells. Evidence for a refractory period in the inactivation phase of transcription. New theoretical techniques for reconstructing transcription from imaging data.

C. V. Harper, B. Finkenstädt, D. Woodcock, S Friedrichsen, S. Semprini, L Ashall, D. Spiller, J. J. Mullins, D. A. Rand, J. R.E. Davis, M. R. H. White. Dynamic Analysis of Stochastic Transcription Cycles. PLoS Biology 9(4): e1000607. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000607

Clocks need to track more than one phase

K. D.Edwards, , O. E. Akman, K. Knox, P. J. Lumsden, A. W. Thomson, P. E. Brown, A. Pokhilko, L. Kozma-Bognar, F. Nagy, D. A. Rand, and A. J. Millar, Quantitative analysis of regulatory flexibility under changing environmental conditions. Molecular Systems Biology 6:424.

Multiparameter experimental and computational methods that integrate quantitative measurement and mathematical simulation of these noisy and complex processes are required to understand the highly dynamic mechanisms that control cell plasticity and fate.

D G Spiller, C. D. Wood, D. A. Rand, M. R. H. White. Measurement of Single Cell Dynamics. Nature 465 (2010) 736-745

Describing the heterogenious response of low-dose stimulation of the NF-kB system

D. A. Turner, P. Paszek, D. J. Woodcock, D. E. Nelson, C. A. Horton, Y. Wang, D. G. Spiller, D. A. Rand, M. R. H. White, and C. V. Harper, Physiological levels of TNFa stimulation induce stochastic dynamics of NF-kB responses in single living cells. Journal of Cell Science 123: 2834-2843 (2010)

Feedbacks of NF-kappaB optimised to increase single-cell heterogeneity and population robustness.

P. Paszek, S. Ryan, L. Ashall, K. Sillitoe, C. V. Harper, D. G. Spiller, D. A. Rand and M. R. H. White, Population Robustness Arising From Cellular Heterogeneity. PNAS doi/10.1073/pnas.0913798107

Analysis of a new model for the Neurospora circadian clock

O. E. Akman, D. A. Rand, P. E. Brown and A. J. Millar. Robustness from ﬂexibility in the fungal circadian clock. BMC Systems Biology 2010, 4:88

Modelling the photoperiod switch in plants predicts new role for FKF1.

J. D. Salazar, T. Saithong, P. E. Brown, J. Foreman, J. C. W. Locke, K. J. Halliday, I. A. Carre, D. A. Rand and A. J. Millar. Prediction of Photoperiodic Regulators from Quantitative Gene Circuit Models. Cell 139, 1170–1179, DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2009.11.029

A new statistical inference framework to estimate kinetic parameters of gene expression, as well as the strength and half-life of extrinsic noise from single fluorescent reporter gene time series data. The method takes into account stochastic variability in the fluorescent signal resulting from intrinsic noise of gene expression, kinetics of fluorescent protein maturation and extrinsic noise.

M. Komorowski, B. Finkenstadt, D. A. Rand, Using single fluorescent reporter gene to infer half-life of extrinsic noise and other parameters of gene expression. Biophysical Journal (to appear)

Stimulation frequency modulates differential gene expression by NF-kappaB; IkappaBepsilon feedback regulates heterogeneithy of oscillations; and the structure and role of A20 feedback is predicted.

L. Ashall, C.A. Horton, D.E. Nelson, P. Paszek, C.V. Harper, K. Sillitoe, S. Ryan, D.G. Spiller, J.F. Unitt, D.S. Broomhead, D.B. Kell, D.A. Rand, V. Sée, and M.R.H. White. Pulsatile stimulation determines timing and specificity of NF-kappa B-dependent transcription. Science 324 (2009) 242-246

New summation theorems that substantially generalise previous results to dynamic non-stationary solutions such as periodic orbits and transient signals and apply to both autonomous and non-autonomous systems such as forced nonlinear oscillators.

D. A. Rand. Network control analysis for time-dependent dynamical states. To appear in Dynamics and Games in Science, in honour of Mauricio Peixoto and David Rand. Springer 2010.

A simple and computationally efficient algorithm for the estimation of biochemical kinetic parameters from gene reporter data.

M. Komorowski, B. Finkenstadt, C. V. Harper and D. A. Rand. Bayesian inference of biochemical kinetic parameters using the linear noise approximation. (2009) BMC Bioinformatics (2009) 10 343-353

Analysis of a new kinetic model for G protein-coupled receptor signaling has identified a dynamic network motif that shows how inclusion of an inactive GTP-bound state for the Gα produces the non-monotone signal level seen in eour experiments and resulting from the way in which RGS-mediated GTP hydrolysis acts as both a negative (low stimulation) and positive (high stimulation) regulator of signaling

B. Smith, C. Hill, L. Godfrey, D A Rand, H van den Berg, S Thornton, M Hodgkin, J Davey and G Ladds. Dual positive and negative regulation of GPCR signaling by GTP Hydrolysis. Cellular Signalling 21 (209)1151-1160 doi:10.1016/j.cellsig.2009.03.00

Epigenetic Control of Vernalisation in Arabidopsis thaliana.

J.D. Salazar, J. Foreman, I.A. Carre, D.A. Rand and A. J. Millar. Mathematical Model of the Epigenetic Control of Vernalisation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Acta Horticulturae Number 803, November 2008

Other recent papers in 2007 & 2008

B Finkenstädt, E A. Heron, M Komorowski, K Edwards, S Tang, C V Harper, A J Millar, J R E Davis, M R H White and D A Rand, Reconstruction of transcriptional dynamics from gene reporter data using differential equations. Bioinformatics 2008; doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btn562. Download paper. Download Supplementary Information

D. A. Rand. Mapping the global sensitivity of cellular network dynamics: Sensitivity heat maps and a global summation law. J. R. Soc. Interface (2008) doi:10.1098/rsif.2008.0084.focus. Download paper. Download supplementary information.

O. E. Akman, J.C.W. Locke, S. Tang, I. Carré, A. J. Millar & D. A. Rand, Global temperature compensation and extended functionality for the Neurospora crassa circadian clock. Molecular Systems Biology. 4 http://www.nature.com/doifinder/4100210 on 12/02/08 doi: 4100210 Download paper. Download corrigendum. Download supplementary information.

Heron E., Finkenstadt B., Rand D. Statistical inference for delayed transcriptional gene regulation, an application to the Hes1 system,. Bioinformatics. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btm367 Download paper. Download supplementary information.

A. A. Pinto, D. A. Rand & F. Ferreira, Cantor exchange systems and renormalization. Journal of Differential Equations 243(2) (2007) 593-616.

A. A. Pinto, D. A. Rand & F. Ferreira, Hausdorff dimension bounds for smoothness of holonomies for codimension one hyperbolic dynamics. Journal of Differential Equations 243(2) (2007) 168-178.

H van den Berg & D. A. Rand, Quantitative theories of T cell responsiveness. Immunological Reviews. 216(1) (2007) 81-92. Download.

A Pinto & D. A. Rand, Solenoid functions for hyperbolic sets on surfaces. In: Dynamics, Ergodic Theory, and Geometry: Dedicated to Anatole Katok (ed. Boris Hasselblatt). Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications, Cambridge University Press (2007) 145-178.