Understanding biology in a network

Speaker

Hui Ge
Whitehead Fellow (Principal Investigator)
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Time

3-4pm, Thursday, May 22, 2008

Location

Room 610, New Life Science Building, Peking University

Abstract

• Development is the result of complex events including cascades of transcriptional programs and numerous molecular interactions. Traditionally, research focus has been given to the characterization of individual mutants, regulators or interactions. With the availability of complete genome sequences and high-throughput (HT) experimental techniques, probing biological systems on a global scale has become possible. On the other hand, however, it is not clear how the data emerging from various HT techniques can be effectively integrated and how new insights can be gained for specific biological processes upon such integration. Here we describe our effort of mapping a large fraction of protein-protein interaction (or interactome) network for a metazoan, Caenorhabditis elegans. We develop computational models to integrate the interactome network with other HT datasets such as expression profiles, phenotypic profiles, and genetic interaction networks, and apply them to understanding developmental processes in Caenorhabditis elegans. We confirm the biological hypotheses learned from the computational models by experimental results.

Bio

• EDUCATION
  1999-June 2004 Harvard Uniersity Cambridge, MA
  Ph.D., Division of Medical Sciences
  Research area: systems biology, bioinformatics, and genomics.
  Thesis Advisor: Dr. Marc Vidal
  Thesis work on integration of various sources of high-throughput biological data.
  1995-1999 Beijing University Beijing, China
  B.S.,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  Broad coursework on biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, and immunology.
  
• EXPERIENCE
  May 2005-present Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Cambridge, MA
  Whitehead Fellow (Principal Investigator)
  Oct.2004-Apr.2005 Harvard University Cambridge, MA
  Visiting Scholar, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
  Jul.2004-Oct.2004 AstraZeneca USA Waltham, MA
  Intern, Cancer Informatics Group
  1999-2004 Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Boston, MA
  Research assistant, Dr. Marc Vidal’s laboratory
  2001-2002 Harvard University Cambridge, MA
  Teaching Fellow, Course in Genomics and Computational Biology
  
• AWARDS/HONORS
  Stewart Trust Cancer Pilot Research Award (2005-2007);
  Whitehead Fellowship (2005-present);
  Fink Fellowship (2005-2007);
  Fu Fellowship (1999-2004);
  Honored Graduate Award (1999);
  Baogang Fellowship (1997);
  Outstanding Freshman Fellowship (1995)