Although continuous advances in theoretical modelling of Molecular Communications (MC) are observed, there is still an insuperable gap between theory and experimental testbeds, especially at the microscale. In this paper, the development of the first testbed incorporating engineered yeast cells is reported. Different from the existing literature, eukaryotic yeast cells are considered for both the sender and the receiver, with {\alpha}-factor molecules facilitating the information transfer. The use of such cells is motivated mainly by the well understood biological mechanism of yeast mating, together with their genetic amenability. In addition, recent advances in yeast biosensing establish yeast as a suitable detector and a neat interface to in-body sensor networks. The system under consideration is presented first, and the mathematical models of the underlying biological processes leading to an end-to-end (E2E) system are given. The experimental setup is then described and used to obtain experimental results which validate the developed mathematical models. Beyond that, the ability of the system to effectively generate output pulses in response to repeated stimuli is demonstrated, reporting one event per two hours. However, fast RNA fluctuations indicate cell responses in less than three minutes, demonstrating the potential for much higher rates in the future.

翻译：尽管分子通信（MC）的理论建模持续取得进展，但其理论与实验测试平台之间的鸿沟仍难以逾越，尤其在微尺度层面。本文首次报道了整合工程酵母细胞的实验测试平台的开发成果。与现有文献不同，本研究采用真核酵母细胞同时作为发送端和接收端，通过α-因子分子实现信息传递。选用这类细胞的主要动机源于酵母交配机制具有清晰的生物学原理及其遗传可塑性。此外，酵母生物传感技术的最新进展使其成为适用于体内传感器网络的理想检测器和便捷接口。本文首先阐述所研究的系统架构，并给出实现端到端（E2E）系统的底层生物学过程的数学模型。继而描述实验装置，通过实验数据验证所建立的数学模型。实验进一步表明，该系统能在每两小时一次的重复刺激下有效生成输出脉冲响应。然而，快速RNA波动显示细胞在不到三分钟内即可产生响应，这预示着未来可实现更高传输速率的潜力。