Science At the Edge Seminar

Stanislav Y. Shvartsman

Department of Chemical Engineering and
Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomice
Princeton University

Animal development relies on a handful of signaling pathways, which were discovered by genetic and biochemical techniques. Exploring the dynamics and function of these pathways is essentially impossible without mathematical models. We are combining imaging, computational, and genetic approaches in order to develop and experimentally test mathematical models of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway, a key regulator of tissues in animals from worms to humans. Using the terminal patterning system in the early Drosophila embryo as an experimental model, we are examining how multiple levels of organization within the MAPK pathway control its dynamics and function. We discovered that the gradient of MAPK phosphorylation is established by a cascade of diffusion-trapping modules and are now studying how this gradient controls its biochemical and transcriptional targets.

For further information please contact Prof. Christina Chan, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at krischan@egr.msu.edu

Persons with disabilities have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodation. Please call the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at 355-5135 at least the day prior to the seminar; requests received after this date will be met when possible.