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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 Daniel Bondeson Joins the DSB 

Daniel Bondeson

The Bondeson Lab will officially open in September, 2024. The main focus of the lab is to identify cancer vulnerabilities, which can be used to understand the etiology of disease as well as their potential for theurapeutic development. In particular, work in the lab extends Daniel’s postdoctoral studies of why some cancers are susceptible to perturbations in inorganic phosphate homeostasis.

Learn more about Daniel in this Q&A

Additonal news from the DSB

Upcoming Seminars

 
Thierry Emonet, Yale University
Non-genetic adaptation by collective migration
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 11am (AS6-2072)
Host: Beth Shank
 
Eric Brown, McMaster University
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
 

Colibactin leads to a bacteria-specific mutation pattern and self-inflicted DNA damage

Genome Research.  2024 August 16
Emily Lowry, Yiging Wang, Tal Dagan, Amir Mitchell
 
Nature Metabolism - Lee

Host-microbe interactions rewire metabolism in a C. elegans model of leucine breakdown deficiency

Nature Metabolism. 2024 August 8
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
 

 Life Science Alliance - Ponomarova

idh-1 neomorphic mutation confers sensitivity to vitamin B12 in Caenorhabditis elegans

Life Science Alliance. 2024 July 15
Olga Ponomarova, Alyxandra N Starbard, Alexandra Belfi, Amanda V Anderson, Meera V Sundaram, Albertha JM Walhout
 

PLoS Comp Bio - Ali

Regulatory properties of transcription factors with diverse mechanistic function

PLoS Computational Biology. 2024 June 10
Md Zulfikar Ali, Sunil Guharajan, Vinuselvi Parisutham, Robert C. Brewster
 

Molecular Cell - Hildebrand

Mitotic chromosomes are self-engtangled and disentangle through a topoisomerase-II-dependent two-stage exit from mitosis

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

Nature Chemical Biology - Honeywell

Functional genomic screens with death rate analyses reveal mechanisms of drug action

Nature Chemical Biology. 2024 Mar 13
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
News & Views: The deathgaze of MEDUSA