Modeling and Computation Seminar

Speakers:         Andrew Paek, Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Arizona

Abstract:         The ability of cells to sense and respond to internal and external signals is essential for survival. Decades of research have led to the identification of many of the proteins that define how an organism responds to specific signals. Yet many proteins involved in key signaling events can trigger distinct, often mutually exclusive cell responses, depending on the nature and intensity of the activating signal. One way in which signaling networks achieve input/output specificity is by modulating the activity of signaling proteins over time. My lab develops fluorescent reporters to measure the activity of signaling proteins in hundreds of single-cells with high temporal resolution. Our goal is to unravel the mechanisms through which signaling pathways encode essential information regarding the nature and intensity of signals, and how they translate this information into an appropriate cellular response. In this talk I will discuss how this approach revealed how cells measure levels of oxidative stress and how cells in the gut self-organize into unique spatial compartments.