Dynamical Systems & Math Biology

Research

During my graduate research with Dr John Tyson, I built mathematical models to understand dynamical aspects:

  • Modeling the START transition in the budding yeast cell cycle:

    • Built a detailed mathematical model (~100 ODEs, ~150 parameters) for the START transition in yeast and integrated it with our published model of the whole cell cycle.
    • Model addresses outstanding issues related to the precise mechanism and timing of transcriptional, post- translational and localization events, as well as size control under varying growth conditions.
    • Model consistent with ~200 experimental mutant phenotypes pertaining to the START transition and rest of the cell cycle.
    • Built a basic model for the nutritional effect of size control in budding yeast cells.
    • This mechanism has been incorporated into the existing model of the yeast cell cycle to explain an initial set of START mutants.
  • Modeling bistability in the canonical Wnt pathway:

    • Built a simplified model based upon the core module of the Wnt canonical pathway, and incorporated additional key regulatory interactions.
    • Model shows that the Wnt signaling pathway can display bistability, in agreement with preliminary experimental results.
  • Ravi J, Tyson JJ. Modeling the START transition in the budding yeast cell cycle. Submitted.
  • Thorne C, Ravi J, Tyson JJ, Lee E. Modeling bistability in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. Submitted.

Collaborators

Virginia Tech

  • Kathy Chen (now retd.)

Vanderbilt University

  • Ethan Lee
  • Curtis A. Thorne (now at University of Arizona)
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