Regulatory Networks

Modeling Cellular Regulatory Networks
    The goal of my research program is to uncover the principles of coordination between cellular phenotypes at multiple scales of organization, and build predictive models of this coordination in endothelial health and disease. To this end, I pursue four complementary lines of inquiry:

    1. Dynamical Modularity in Endothelial Regulation. Computational models of coupled biological circuits, each of which drive small-scale phenotypic switches. The goal is to predict the coordination of module phenotypes and the emergence of complex phenotypes at a larger scale.
    2. Theory and Visualization of Dynamical Modularity. Development of theoretical measures, computational tools, and visualization techniques to aid dynamical modeling of multi-scale, hierarchically organized phenotypes.
    3. Mosaic Heterogeneity of the Endothelium, with Dr. William Aird. Measuring, modeling, and predicting the behavior of noise driven mosaic heterogeneity of the vWF gene in vitro and in vivo.
    4. Collaborations in wet-bench endothelial biology, with Drs. W. Aird and G. Molema:
      • role of the FoxO1 transcription factor in coordinating cell cycle, cell growth, angiogenesis and cellular stress
      • phenotypic drift in freshly isolated heart and kidney endothelial cells in culture