Biological feedback control—Respect the loops
Hana El‐Samad
Abstract
We, and all organisms, are an evolutionary masterpiece of multiscale feedback control. Feedback loops enable our cells to grow and then stop at the right size, to divide and self-repair, and to respond with agility to their changing environment. Individual cells engage in long range extracellular feedback with other cells, ensuring continued homeostasis of our tissues and organs. Many long ranging feedback loops regulate vital physiological variables. Here, I will argue that focused efforts to understand the properties and constraints of biological feedback control networks should be central to the quest of understanding life. I will also propose many pressing challenges in this field and review conceptual frameworks that might be consequential for addressing them.