About

My research involves mathematical modeling of the yeast response to mating pheromone. The models are systems of nonlinear differential equations.  The mathematical treatment of the equations I employ is based on techniques from dynamical systems theory.   The models are reduced for simplicity but maintain dynamic information about concentrations of proteins involved in the yeast pheromone response.  These reduced models can indicate which pathway proteins are the key players in the response and suggest experiments that can be done to test these assumptions.  Once the models are reduced, I analyze them to get information about the dynamic behavior of the response system.  My analysis is facilitated by Mathematica, a symbolic manipulator software. The model I am working with is modular.  One part is the MAP kinase cascade.  The cascade has a scaffold protein dimer and three kinases that are doubly phosphorylated during the response.  My modeling effort seeks to determine if the mechanism for activating the kinases is processive or distributive phosphorylation.  This work requires ongoing discussions with biologists to ensure that essential biochemical reactions are always included in the model, and to make the model predictions amenable to laboratory experimentation.  This work will be expanded to include stochastic equations in the near future.

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