UBM-Group: Studying Cell Response to Input Signals as the Basis for Interdisciplinary Training for Undergraduates in Biological and Mathematical Sciences

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The main objective of this project is to increase the number of students who will pursue scientific careers that effectively integrate the mathematical and biological sciences. The integration of these two areas will be based on the stress response system in mammalian cells and on iron uptake system in E. coli. The stress response system is central in biology, since it protects the cell against dramatic changes in the environment. This project will add a new dimension towards understanding stress phenomena at a molecular level by using a theory of stochastic nonlinear gene regulatory networks. The project also includes mathematical and experimental aspects of biological processes that are regulated by iron in the E. coli bacterium. Organisms generally respond to iron deficiency by increasing their capacity to take up iron and by consuming intracellular iron stores. While the iron-regulated system in bacteria is different from that of the stress response in mammalian cells, students will recognize that mathematical questions unify the projects. The mathematical theory used by students in this project offers a promising way to create algorithms for genetic circuitry design, a critical area for our next generation of scientists. The project builds upon the idea that to fully contribute to a joint research project at the intersection of mathematics and biology, undergraduates in mathematics must overcome apprehensions they may have about working in a "wet" lab and biology students must overcome apprehensions they may have about mathematical studies.In spite of the uneasiness among certain students of working in a wet lab, we have found that mathematically inclined students perform well when they are challenged to follow a very precise sequence of steps that constitutes the core of any molecular biology assay. We thus believe that the route for a mathematically-oriented person to get involved into biology is to be immersed in a wet lab environment as soon as possible at undergraduate level. The approach taken for the mathematics-apprehensive biology students is to teach them that mathematics is useful as a rich source of hypothesis. In the hands of biologists, this hypothesis can lead to new valuable experimental designs. The goal for the biology students should be to become capable of reading the symbolic mathematical information and correlating it with the underlying biological model.