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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
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Reprograming Model of Human Monocyte-derived Macrophages for In-vitro Assays
Published on: April 18, 2025
Gene expression dynamics in the macrophage exhibit criticality
Matti Nykter1, Nathan D Price, Maximino Aldana
1Institute of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, 33101 Tampere, Finland.
Summary
Biological systems, like macrophages, exhibit criticality, a state balancing stability and adaptability. This study provides compelling evidence that gene expression dynamics in macrophages are critical, supporting a long-standing hypothesis.
Area of Science:
- Cellular dynamics
- Systems biology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Cells function as complex dynamical systems processing environmental information.
- Criticality, a state of optimal balance between stability and adaptability, is hypothesized to be a key property of biological systems.
- Understanding cellular dynamics is crucial for deciphering biological responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally test the hypothesis that biological systems, specifically macrophages, operate at criticality.
- To develop and validate a novel method for assessing criticality in biological networks.
- To investigate system-wide gene expression dynamics in macrophages.
Main Methods:
- Development of a novel method based on algorithmic information theory to assess criticality.
- Validation of the criticality assessment method on networks with known properties.
- Analysis of global gene expression data from macrophages stimulated with Toll-like receptor agonists.
Main Results:
- Macrophage dynamics were found to be critical.
- The developed method successfully assessed criticality in macrophage gene expression.
- This provides strong experimental support for the hypothesis of criticality in biological systems.
Conclusions:
- Macrophage gene expression dynamics operate at a critical state.
- This finding offers compelling evidence for criticality as a general principle in biological systems.
- Criticality enables complex behaviors, balancing adaptability and stability in cellular responses.