Presentations

Hox genes are essential for proper embryonic development. In mammals, 39 genes are found clustered at four genomic loci, and their internal topological organization prefigures the place and time of their transcriptional activation. The mechanisms...

Histone H3K9 methylation is a conserved modification that correlates broadly with gene repression in organisms ranging from fission yeast to man. In C. elegans, di- and tri-K9 methylation is abundant on repetitive elements (RE), including both transposons...

The cell cycle control logic in Caulobacter drives an integrated system that operates in time and space. Oscillating levels of a small number of temporally-controlled master regulators enable multiple cell cycle functions. Cell cycle regulation is, to a...

The Drosophila circadian clock functions within 75 pairs of brain neurons. We are expanding our understanding of their functions, including their sexually dimorphic contributions to behavior, their regulation of sleep and their circuitry. We have also...

Pungent irritants from pepper, mint, and mustard plants have served as powerful pharmacological probes for identifying molecules, cells, and circuits that contribute to somatosensation and pain. These natural products elicit pain by targeting members of...

Like host cells, some viruses produce noncoding RNAs that contribute to the viral life cycle or help the virus evade the defenses the host organism raises against infection. We have been studying a variety of noncoding RNAs made by gamma herpesviruses, a...

Enzymes are admired for their ability to selectively catalyze myriad transformations. We use laboratory evolution experiments to understand better how evolution modifies existing enzymes and creates new ones. A powerful approach to engineering biological...

Marc W. Kirschner, Ph.D. 
John Franklin Enders University Professor 
Chair and Professor of Systems Biology 
Harvard Medical School

We study the molecular basis of cellular motility, endocytosis and cytokinesis. We use fission yeast for much of this work because they use the same molecular mechanisms at humans, but are much more amenable to experimentation using molecular genetics. We...

Cells are organized on length scales from Angstroms to microns. However, the mechanisms by which Angstrom-scale molecular properties are translated to micron-scale macroscopic properties are not well understood. We have shown that interactions between...

The molecular details of biological processes can be most accurately understood by probing biomolecules within their native habitats in cells, or even better, live organisms. To interrogate biomolecules in such complex settings requires the means to...

Nuclear and cytoplasmic puncta, including Cajal bodies and various forms or RNA granules, were first observed over a century ago. Evidence will be presented indicating that these and related puncta are organized via the reversible polymerization of low...