About the Department of Systems Biology
One of the defining features of living organisms is their astonishing complexity. Even seemingly simple single cell organisms such as microbes display exceedingly complex behaviors, determined by intricate molecular networks in which large numbers of molecular components, pathways and chemical reactions act together. These behaviors have fascinated scientists for decades and include development, response to pathogenic and environmental insults and interactions with other organisms. Understanding how complexity of living systems arises and coordinates cellular function and pathologies continues to be one of the principal goals of biomedical research today. Read more about how the Department of Systems Biology tackles these questions on our Research and About pages.
The Department of Systems Biology (DSB) studies how biological complexity can be derived and understood from the interplay between individual components and processes that make up living organisms.
For information about our Graduate and Summer Undergraduate Programs as well as the application process, please see our Education Page.
DSB Spotlight
New Faculty Member Jolanda Van Leeuwen Joins the DSB
The Van Leeuwen Lab uses high-throughput screening methods in both yeast and mammalian cells to identify suppressor mutations, mutations that can compensate for detrimental effects of disease causing mutations. The identification of these mutations may provide clues as to how diseases arise and provide potential strategies for therapeutic development.
Upcoming Seminars
Eric Brown, McMaster University - Cancelled |
Bugs, Drugs and Cell Systems |
Thursday, November 21, 2024, 11am (AS6-2072) |
Host: Amir Mitchell |
Barry O'Keefe, National Cancer Institute |
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 11am (AS6-2072) |
Host: Beth Shank |
Yogesh Surendranath, MIT |
Thursday, December 19, 2024, 11am (AS6-2072) |
Host: Marian Walhout |
Recent Publications |
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Cell. 2024 November 14 | |
Job Dekker and Leonid A. Mirny | |
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Colibactin leads to a bacteria-specific mutation pattern and self-inflicted DNA damage |
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Genome Research. 2024 August 16 |
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Emily Lowry, Yiging Wang, Tal Dagan, Amir Mitchell | |
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Host-microbe interactions rewire metabolism in a C. elegans model of leucine breakdown deficiency |
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Nature Metabolism. 2024 August 8 |
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Yong-Uk Lee, Bennett W. Fox, Rui Guo, Brian J. Curtis, Jingfang Yu, Sookyung Kim, Shivani Nanda, Victor Baumann, L. Safak Yilmaz, Cole M. Haynes, Frank C. Schroeder, Albertha J.M. Walhout | |
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idh-1 neomorphic mutation confers sensitivity to vitamin B12 in Caenorhabditis elegans |
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Life Science Alliance. 2024 July 15 | |
Olga Ponomarova, Alyxandra N Starbard, Alexandra Belfi, Amanda V Anderson, Meera V Sundaram, Albertha JM Walhout | |
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Regulatory properties of transcription factors with diverse mechanistic function |
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PLoS Computational Biology. 2024 June 10 | |
Md Zulfikar Ali, Sunil Guharajan, Vinuselvi Parisutham, Robert C. Brewster | |
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Molecular Cell. 2024 Mar 22 | |
Erica M. Hildebrand, Kirill Polovnikov, Bastiaan Dekker, Yu Liu, Denis L. Lafontaine, A. Nicole Fox, Ying Li, Sergey V. Venev, Leonid A. Mirny, Job Dekker | |
Preview: Entangling and disentangling mitotic chromosomes | |
Functional genomic screens with death rate analyses reveal mechanisms of drug action |
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Nature Chemical Biology. 2024 Mar 13 |
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Megan E. Honeywell, Marie S. Isidor, Nicholas W. Harper, Rachel E. Fontana, Gavin A. Birdsall, Peter Cruz-Gordillo, Sydney A. Porto, Madison Jerome, Cameron S. Fraser, Kristopher A. Sarosiek, David A. Guertin, Jessica B. Spinelli, Michael J. Lee
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