Structural Intervention and External Control for Markovian Regulatory Network Models

In order to derive system-based methods to control dynamic behavior of biological systems of interest for future gene-based intervention therapeutics, two basic categories of intervention strategies have been studied based on the Markov chain theory and Markov decision processes: Structural intervention by function perturbation and external control based on state perturbation. The chapter reviews the existing network analysis and control methods in these two categories and discusses their extensions for more robust and clinically relevant intervention strategies considering collateral damages from intervention.