Pia Abola, Ph.D.
Research Fellow
Email: pabola molsci.org
Tel: 510-981-8726
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One of the goals of the Alpha Project is to generate mathematical
descriptions of a model signal transduction pathway - the mating
pheromone response pathway in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mathematical
models are a necessary aid to simple intuition for understanding
and interpreting this dynamic, multi-component process. While
we chose the yeast mating pheromone response pathway as a model
system because it is genetically well characterized, many of
the parameters required for building detailed mathematical
models - binding affinities, reaction rates, oligomerization
states - remain undetermined. My research project is
to measure these unknown parameters in vitro using
purified components in low and medium throughput assays, and
incorporate them into the mathematical models being developed
at MSI. Coupled with the in vivo microscopy
data generated at MSI, we hope to develop a comprehensive understanding
of a model signal transduction pathway from which we can distill
general principles about the physiology of the signal transduction
process, and identify the critical parameters one needs to
measure in order to facilitate similar characterizations of
other signal transduction pathways.
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