The E M B 0 course on "Formal Analysis of Genetic Regulation" A course entitled "Formal analysis of Genetic Regulation" was held at the University of Brussels from 6 to 16 September 1977 under the auspices of EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization). As indicated by the title of the book (but not explicitly enough by the title of the course), the main emphasis was put on a dynamic analysis of systems using logical methods, that is, methods in which functions and variables take only a limited number of values - typically two. In this respect, this course was complementary to an EMBO course using continuous methods which was held some months later in Israel by Prof. Segel. People from four very different laboratories took an active part in teaching our course in Brussels : Drs Anne LEUSSLER and Philippe VAN HAM, from the Laboratory of Prof. Jean FLORINE (Laboratoire des Systemes logiques et numeriques, Faculte des Sciences appliquees, Universite Libre de Bruxelles). Dr Stuart KAUFFMAN (Dept. of Biochemistry and Biophysics, School of Medicine, Philadelphia). Prof. Gregoire NICOLlS (Service de Biophysique Theorique, Faculte des Sciences, Universite Libre de Bruxelles) and his temporary coworker Dr David RIGNEY (presently at the Center for Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics of the University of Texas at Austin, Texas).

Inhalt
I: Verbal description of two well-documented genetic circuits: the lactose system in the bacterium E. coli and immunity in bacteriophage lambda.- II: The molar behaviour of cells in development.- III: Assessing the probable regulatory structures and dynamics of the metazoan genome.- IV: Combinational systems.- V: Sequential systems.- VI: Kinetic logic: a boolean analysis of the dynamic behavior of control circuits.- VII: The dynamic behaviour of boolean systems comprising feedback loops.- VIII: Delphin: a logical machine with incrementable phase delays.- IX: Computer programs for simulation of logical models.- X: Net structures for sequential logic.- XI: Mathematical aspects of biological regulatory processes.- XII: On the relation between boolean methods and the theory of finite Markov chains.- XIII: Stochastic models of cellular variability.- XIV: Comparative analysis of negative loops by continuous, boolean and stochastic approaches.- XV: How to deal with more than two levels.- XVI: General discussion on the simplifying assumptions in methods using logical, stochastic or differential equations; the ranges of applicability and the complementarity of the approaches.- XVII: Some biological examples.- XVIII: Boolean formalism and urban development.- XIX: Numerical models of oscillating genetic signals.- XX: A model for the achievement of accuracy in biology and economy.- XXI: Serial thresholds and homeotic variation.- XXII: An application of catastrophe theory to the study of a switch in Dictyostelium discoideum.- XXIII: Boolean approach of a prey-predator system.