A
great deal of current research efforts in the life
sciences are devoted to the connection between molecular details and
organism
behaviour. Our research group is focused on Quantitative Systems
Biology, an
interdisciplinary approach that synthesizes information spanning
multiple
scales: genomic sequence, protein expression, physiology, metabolism,
and the
context of the organism within its environment.
Much
of our group’s work addresses the behavior of
bacterial cells, with a specific focus on general ‘design principles’
of
biology. Our foundational research complements an applied program,
which focuses on biomanfacturing of proteins, environmental
remediation, and novel clinical therapies. These projects, which
involve
coordination
between laboratory experiments and mathematical model building, address
the
organization of existing biological networks as well as the design of
engineered
strains and synthetic networks.
One
long-term goal of our group is
to elucidate the role of growth-mediated constraints on gene
expression. Toward
this end we are investigating the effects of growth rate on the
function of
simple genetic devices. Such growth rate-related effects can
play a
key role in dictating system behavior.
Resources and Instrumentation
The mathematical biology laboratory is designed for the growth and
analysis of biosafety level 1 organisms (primarily Escherichia coli
and other bacteria).
Amnis Imagestream MkII
Through
funding provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation,
the laboratory is equiped with an imaging
flow cytometer, with 488 nm and 642 nm excitation lasers, as
well as
60x magnification to provide high-throughput
imaging at a resolution of about 0.33 microns/pixel.
The video embedded below surveys the breadth of biology-focused
research activities in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the
University of Waterloo.
©2014
Matt Scott. Layout design created by Francis
Poulin.