Collaborative Research: Dynamics of Morphogen Gradients

该项目描述了一系列关于形态梯度的理论和实验研究，形态梯度被定义为发育组织中控制细胞分化空间模式的化学物质的浓度场。胚胎发生的分子研究已经确定了各种系统的形态梯度，如昆虫的身体轴规范和哺乳动物新皮层的模式。目前对形态梯度的研究正朝着定量方向发展，需要建立一个严谨的理论框架来解释实验结果，并指导对模式形成机制的系统级分析。本项目开发了这样一个框架，强调形态梯度形成的动力学。本研究结合了形态学梯度形成的一类反应扩散模型的严格数学和计算分析，并将这些模型应用于果蝇胚胎中特定的模式形成事件。拟议工作的更广泛影响包括为高度保守的生物过程开发一般数学框架。拟议活动的主要成果之一是一套分析结果，可用于广泛发展系统中模式形成动力学的粗略分析。提出的理论和实验研究与教育计划的发展齐头并进，为发展系统生物学的新兴领域提供跨学科培训。

The project describes a series of theoretical and experimental studies of morphogen gradients, defined as the concentration fields of chemical substances that control spatial patterns of cell differentiation in developing tissues. Molecular studies of embryogenesis have identified morphogen gradients in systems as diverse as body axes specification in insects and patterning of mammalian neocortex. Current studies of morphogen gradients move in an increasingly quantitative direction and demand the development of a rigorous theoretical framework that can be used to interpret experimental results and guide systems-level analyses of pattern formation mechanisms. This project develops such a framework, emphasizing the dynamics of morphogen gradient formation. This research combines rigorous mathematical and computational analysis of a general class of reaction-diffusion models of morphogen gradient formation and application of these models to a specific pattern formation event in Drosophila embryo.Broader impacts of proposed work include the development of a general mathematical framework for a highly conserved biological process. One of the main outcomes of proposed activity is a set of analytical results that can be used for the back-of-the-envelope analysis of pattern formation dynamics in a wide range of developmental systems. The proposed theoretical and experimental studies go hand-in-hand with the development of educational program that provides interdisciplinary training in the emerging field of developmental systems biology.