The Type 1 growth factor receptors and their ligands considered as a complex system

The Type 1 family of growth factors and their receptors play an important role in normal development, wound healing and in diseases such as cancer. The products of the four receptor genes and the ten genes specifying ligands interact in a complex pattern. Such systems may develop emergent properties which cannot be predicted from a reductionist analysis of the interactions of individual components. New methods of determining these higher level properties are, however, being developed. These include microscopic analysis of live cells expressing fluorescently tagged ligands, receptors and second messengers which can provide positional information on components of the system. Computational simulations of the complex interactions are being developed which can help to predict the properties of the system.