Title: Modularity of Biological Systems: A Link Between Structure and Function

Abstract: This presentation explores how modularity helps to explain the relationship between the structure and function of biological systems with a focus on gene regulatory networks modeled using Boolean networks. Biological models are discussed to highlight the prevalence of modular organization in real systems. The trade-off between robustness and dynamical complexity is examined, showing how modularity influences system behavior. Furthermore, structural decomposition of a network into modules induces a corresponding decomposition of its dynamics. As a result, the global behavior of the system, including its attractors, can be derived from the dynamics of its constituent modules.