Plenary Talk
Wednesday August 20,
Prof. Hiroaki Kitano (The Systems Biology Institute)
"Biological robustness"


Abstract.
Robustness is a ubiquitously observed property of biological systems. It is considered to be a fundamental feature of complex evolvable systems. It is attained by several underlying principles that are universal to both biological organisms and sophisticated engineering systems. Robustness facilitates evolvability and robust traits are often selected by evolution. Such a mutually beneficial process is made possible by specific architectural features observed in robust systems. But there are trade-offs between robustness, fragility, performance and resource demands, which explain system behaviour, including the patterns of failure. Insights into inherent properties of robust systems will provide us with a better understanding of complex diseases and a guiding principle for therapy design.

Biography.
Hiroaki Kitano is a Director at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. and a Project Director of Kitano Symbiotic Systems Project, ERATO-SORST, Japan Science and Technology Agency. He is also a President of The Systems Biology Institute, a visiting professor of the University of Tokyo and Keio University, and a Founding President of The RoboCup Federation. He received a B.A. in physics from the International Christian University, Tokyo, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Kyoto University. Since 1988, he has been a visiting researcher at the Center for Machine Translation at Carnegie Mellon University. Kitano received The Computers and Thought Award from the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence in 1993, Prix Ars Electronica 2000, Japan Design Culture Award 2001, and Good Design Award 2001, as well as being an invited artist for Biennale di Venezia 2000 and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York in 2001. His research interests include AI, Robotics, and Systems Biology.