CAREER - The Importance of Being Random: Actin Propulsion Engines and Stochastic Gene Expression

这项职业活动的科学部分侧重于探索噪声和随机性在两个生物系统中的重要性的实验和理论方法：(I)肌动蛋白推进引擎和(Ii)细菌中的随机基因表达。第一个项目的目标是解开肌动蛋白微丝聚合的力产生和自组织的生物物理机制。理论上的努力将集中在开发包含肌动蛋白推进发动机最新生化数据的现实模型。以协同的方式，将进行实验，探索明确定义的货物的推进，如聚苯乙烯珠子、磷脂微囊和微型制造圆柱体。第二个项目的主要目标是定量了解原核细胞中随机基因的表达。利用解析和数值工具，从理论上对随机表达式进行建模。这些理论将通过使用荧光报告蛋白在原核细胞中探索单基因和简单遗传网络的随机基因表达来验证。该活动的教育部分侧重于通过一些不同的机制在麻省理工学院发展生物物理学基础设施，包括新的研讨会系列、新的课程和期刊俱乐部。该奖项由数学和物理科学局的物理司和生物科学局的分子和细胞生物科学司共同支持。

The scientific component of this CAREER activity focuses on experiments and theoretical approaches that explore the importance of noise and randomness in two biological systems: (i) the actin propulsion engine and (ii) stochastic gene expression in bacteria. The goal of the first project is to unravel the biophysical mechanism of force generation and self-organization of polymerizing actin filaments. Theoretical efforts will focus on developing realistic models that incorporate the recent biochemical data of actin propulsion engines. In a synergistic manner, experiments will be performed that explore the propulsion of well-defined cargo such as polystyrene beads, phospholipid vesicles, and micro-fabricated cylinders. The main goal of the second project is to quantitatively understand stochastic gene expression in prokaryotic cells. Using analytical and numerical tools, stochastic expression will be modeled theoretically. The theories will be tested by exploring stochastic gene expression of single genes and simple genetic networks in prokaryotic cells using fluorescent reporter proteins. The educational component of the activity focuses on the development of an infrastructure for biophysics at MIT thorough a number of different mechanisms, including a new seminar series, new courses, and journal clubs. This award is jointly supported by the Division of Physics in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences in the Directorate for Biological Sciences.