Three Faculty Receive Center Pilot Awards

Michael Rust, Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and Core Faculty Member in the Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology (IGSB) at the University of Chicago, received a 2011 CCSB pilot award to support his project, “Robust Biological Oscillators Generated by Interlocked Transcriptional and Post-Translational Networks: A Systems Analysis.” He joins two other systems biologists who received CCSB pilot awards in 2010. They are Richard Jones, Assistant Professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research and Core Faculty Member of the IGSB at the University of Chicago and Ravi Allada, Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Physiology at Northwestern University. Dr. Jones’ project is “Probing the Molecular Mechanisms of the Robust EDF-Mediated Transcriptional Response in Cancer Cells.” Dr. Allada’s project is “Transcriptional Regulatory Network Sensitivity, Stability, and Robustness in Drosophila Circadian Clocks: Solving the Mystery of Temperature Compensation.”

DNA repair protein caught in act of molecular theft

By Steve Koppes, The University of Chicago

CCSB investigator Dr. Chuan He and his colleagues at UChicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have observed, for the first time, an intermediate stage in the chemical process that repairs DNA methylation damage and regulates many important biological functions that impact health conditions such as obesity, cancer and diabetes.
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New research technology to target human gut bacteria

By Steve Koppes, The University of Chicago

CCSB investigator Dr. Rustem Isamgilov, professor in chemistry at the University of Chicago, is leading a team of scientists that has received a $1.1 million grant to conduct research as part of the Human Microbiome Project.
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'Programming' Sherlock Holmes not so elementary

By Greg Borzo, The University of Chicago

Andrey Rzhetsky finds inspiration in Holmes, who used penetrating powers of reasoning to make the most of diverse and seemingly trivial pieces of evidence that other detectives ignored. With the help of a two-year $1,211,000 National Institutes of Health grant, the co-Principal Investigator proposes to develop automated methods to harvest, synthesize and compare scientific theories and research results, especially minority opinions or unpublished hypothesis.
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