NIMBioS Seminar Series
In conjunction with the interdisciplinary activities of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), a seminar series on topics in mathematical biology will be hosted at NIMBioS every other Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) in the Hallam Auditorium, Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd. Seminar speakers will focus on their research initiatives at the interface of mathematics and many areas of the life sciences. Light refreshments will be served in Room 205 beginning 30 minutes before each talk. Faculty and students from across the UT community are welcome to join us.
Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Panchy, NIMBioS Postdoctoral Fellow
Time/Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018, 3:30 p.m.*
Location: Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd.
Topic: Modeling gene expression and regulation in response to light-dark signaling
Abstract:
Although gene expression has been profiled in more than three thousand different species, the analysis of these data remains challenging in part because multiple signals effect gene regulation. In particular, endogenous (circadian) and exogenous (e.g., light-dark) cycles are prominent in biological systems, especially those that undergo photosynthesis. Using expression data from the model green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, I found that half of the annotated genes are expressed cyclically in response to light-dark variation by using two different approaches to model cyclic expression. Among these light-dark genes, the timing of peak expression (phase) is both correlated with annotated gene function and evolutionarily constrained between duplicate pairs, indicating that this cyclic behavior is biologically significant. However, while I was able to identify cis-regulatory elements that were associated with different phases of light-dark expression, these cis-elements proved to be poor predictors of cyclic expression phase on their own, raising questions about the complexity of gene networks regulating the timing of expression. It was these questions that ultimately led to my current work studying the timing of events in cell differentiation and regulation of ribosomes by cyclic signals.
Dr. Nicholas Panchy (Ph.D. Genetics, Michigan State Univ.) is exploring the role and regulation of intermediate epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) cell - types by modeling gene regulatory networks controlling expression across EMT.
*Join us for refreshments at 3 p.m.
Seminar Flyer (pdf)
Watch seminar online.
This seminar was streamed live. Live-streamed seminars are archived for later viewing on NIMBioS' YouTube channel.
For more information about this and other NIMBioS Seminars, visit /seminars.
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