Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part one: Network motifs -- Transcription networks basic concepts -- Autoregulation -- The feed forward loop -- Temporal programs and the global structure of transcription networks -- Positive feedback, bistability and memory -- How to build a biological oscillator -- Robustness -- Kinetic proofreading and conformational proofreading -- Part two: Robust signalling -- Chemotaxis -- Fold-change detection -- Dynamical compensation and mutal resistance in tissues -- Robust spatial patterning in development -- Part three: Optimality -- Optimal gene circuit design -- Multi-objective optimality in biology -- Modularity.