Abstract:

 

    "In the  past  decade,  advances   in molecular  biology  such  as  the  development   of  non­invasive   single molecule imaging techniques have given us a window into the intricate biochemical activities that occur inside cells. Cells have a high macromolecular content. As a consequence, reactions in the intracellular medium occur in a highly organized and heterogenous environment. We systematically investigate the rate laws describing intracellular reactions. By estimating the fundamental length scales, one can roughly determine which rate laws are best suited for the particular reaction pathway under study. We discuss differences in prediction between different rate laws. In particular we show that taking into account noise and space does not simply add quantitative predictive accuracy but may also lead to qualitatively different physiological predictions, unaccounted for by classical deterministic models."