QBI and the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences are proud to have Dr. Michael Rust present a seminar on “ A Circadian Clock in a Test Tube” under the QBI Seminar Series.

Dr. Michael J. Rust is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology & the Department of Physics in the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. He is also the Director of the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics and past Managing Director of the Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology.

Dr. Rust believes that quantitative thinking plays two key roles in modern biology. First is the quantitative handling of data, and comparison of data with predictions. Second is that mathematics provides a language to frame models and sharpen thinking about a mechanism by allowing deliberation about relative scales and relative importance of interactions. Dr. Rust and his research group have the goal of combining experimental measurements with mathematical analyses to understand dynamical behavior in biology. A major focus of the lab is the circadian clock in cyanobacteria, where a system of purified proteins is capable of generating a remarkably robust 24-hour oscillation in protein phosphorylation that is used to organize cellular physiology.

We encourage students, postdocs, and fellows to take this opportunity to hear an exceptionally fresh mathematical mind!

Title: “ A Circadian Clock in a Test Tube”

Host: James Fraser