Quantitative Biology Colloquium

Spring 2012

Schedule

4:00-5:00 Tuesdays

Mathematics 402

 

January 31

 

Fernando Mendez

Arizona Research Laboratories

Genetic Signatures of Archaic Introgression in Modern Humans

February 7

 

Susan Hester

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology

A Multi-cell, Multi-scale Model of Vertebrate Segmentation and Somite Formation

 

Abstract.  Somitogenesis, the formation of the bodyÕs primary segmental structure common to all vertebrate development, requires coordination between biological mechanisms at several scales. Explaining how these mechanisms interact across scales and how events are coordinated in space and time is necessary for a complete understanding of somitogenesis and its evolutionary flexibility. So far, mechanisms of somitogenesis have been studied independently. To test the consistency, integrability and combined explanatory power of current prevailing hypotheses, we built an integrated clock-and-wavefront model including submodels of the intracellular segmentation clock, intercellular segmentation-clock coupling via Delta/Notch signaling, an FGF8 determination front, delayed differentiation, clock-wavefront readout, and differential-cell-cell-adhesion-driven cell sorting. We identified inconsistencies between existing submodels and gaps in the current understanding of somitogenesis mechanisms, and proposed novel submodels and extensions of existing submodels where necessary.  For reasonable initial conditions, 2D simulations of our model robustly generate spatially and temporally regular somites, realistic dynamic morphologies and spontaneous emergence of anterior-traveling stripes of Lfng. In this talk, I will introduce the current prevailing models of somitogenesis as well as our own novel or extended submodels, discuss how we implemented previous and novel submodels in our integrated computational model, and highlight our key results.

February 14

 

 

Daniel Coombs

Department of Mathematics

University of British Columbia

Stochastic Dynamics of HIV infection, Prophylaxis and Treatment

February 21

Andrew Fuglevand

Departments of Physiology and Neuroscience

Reanimation of Movement using Probabilistic Control of Muscle Stimulation

February 28

 

Lingling An

Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering

Estimation of Relative Abundance of Multiple Genomes in a Metagenomic Sample Based on Next Generation Sequencing Data

March 6

Will Driscoll

Department of Ecology and Environmental Biology

Ecology and Evolution of a Social Dilemma in the Toxic Alga Prymnesium parvum

March 13

Spring Break

March 20

 

Ben Reynwar

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Membrane-Curvature-Mediated Interactions

March 27

 

Aaron King

Departments of Ecology and Environmental Biology and Mathematics

University of Michigan

April 3

James Powell

Departments of Mathematics and Biology

Utah State University

Emerging at the Right Time, Stopping at the Right Place, and Scaling Up the Right Way: Phenology and Differential Motility Describe Patterns of Bark Beetle Outbreak

April 10

Brenae Bailey

Program in Applied Mathematics

Modeling RNA Translation with Frameshifts

April 17

Michael Sanderson

Department of Ecology and Environmental Biology

Reconstructing Deep Homologies in the Tree of Life