Scialog

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Molecules Come to Life

2015-2017

The focus of this Scialog was for early career theorists and experimentalists from physics, biology, and closely related disciplines to come together to develop a stronger quantitative connection between molecular phenomena and phenomena at the cellular systems level by pursuing collaborative, high risk, highly impactful discovery research on untested ideas in physical cell biology.

With guidance from distinguished senior scientists serving as facilitators, some of the questions Scialog Fellows discussed were:

  • What are the fundamental principles that make a collection of molecules within a cell produce behaviors that we associate with life?
  • How do molecules combine and dynamically interact to form functional units in cells?
  • How do metabolism and signaling lead to cellular homeostasis?
  • Can non-equilibrium thermodynamics provide a deeper understanding of cellular processes?
  • How do cells make decisions about which genes to express?

Fellows & Facilitators

Fellows
Facilitators

Team Awards

Goal: for early career theorists and experimentalists from physics, biology, and closely related disciplines to develop a stronger quantitative connection between molecular phenomena and phenomena at the cellular systems level by pursuing collaborative, high risk, highly impactful discovery research on untested ideas in physical cell biology.

2018 Team Awards

Principles of Organelle Copy Number Homeostasis
(2nd Year Funding)

  • Suckjoon Jun
    Physics
    University of California, San Diego

    Laura Lackner
    Molecular Biosciences
    Northwestern University

Funded by Research Corporation

The Evolutionary Dynamics of Temporal Division of Labor
(2nd Year Funding)

  • Minsu Kim
    Physics
    Emory University

    Kirill Korolev
    Physics
    Boston University
  • Funded by Research Corporation
2017 Team Awards

Quantification of the Wnt Morphogen Gradient in Hydra and Mechanically-Induced Symmetry Breaking

  • Eva-Maria Collins
    Physics
    University of California, San Diego

    Adriana Dawes
    Mathematical Biology
    The Ohio State Universit

    Thomas Kuhlman

    Physics
    University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

A Tunable Microfluidic Platform for Observing Long-Term Microbial Community Dynamics

  • Roy Dar
    Bioengineering
    University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

    Brian Hammer
    Biology
    Georgia Institute of Technology

    Srividya Iyer-Biswas
    Physics
    Purdue University
  • Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Forecasting Collective Cancer Dynamics

  • Michelle Digman
    Developmental and Cell Biology
    University of California, Irvine

    Steve Presse
    Physics
    Arizona State University

    Bo Sun
    Physics
    Oregon State University

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Unravelling the Second Secret of Life: Are All Proteins Allosteric?

  • Polly Fordyce
    Genetics and Bioengineering
    Stanford University

    Banu Ozkan
    Physics
    Arizona State University

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Principles of Organelle Copy Number Homeostasis

  • Suckjoon Jun
    Physics
    University of California, San Diego

    Laura Lackner
    Molecular Biosciences
    Northwestern University

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

The Evolutionary Dynamics of Temporal Division of Labor

  • Minsu Kim
    Physics
    Emory University

    Kirill Korolev
    Physics
    Boston University

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

What Constrains Microbial Diversity? Deriving New Ecological Principles for the Microbial World (2nd Year Funding)

  • Pankaj Mehta
    Physics
    Boston University

    Alvaro Sanchez
    Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    Yale University

Funded by Research Corporation

2016 Team Awards

High-Dimensional Context Dependence of a Ubiquitous Ecological Interaction

  • Paul Blainey
    Genomics / Broad Institute
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Seppe Kuehn
    Physics
    University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Commoditizing Advanced Molecular Imaging Techniques

  • Ibrahim Cissé
    Physics
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Moumita Das
    Physics
    Rochester Institute of Technology

    Megan Valentine
    Mechanical Engineering
    University of California, Santa Barbara

    Ali Yanik
    Electrical Engineering
    University of California, Santa Cruz

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Heteroplasmy: Population Dynamics of Mitochondria in Mammalian Cells

  • Moumita Das
    Physics
    Rochester Institute of Technology

    Daniel Needleman
    Applied Physics
    Harvard University

    Douglas Weibel
    Biomedical Engineering
    University of Wisconsin, Madison

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Deconstructing the Cell’s Mechanical Circuits

  • Adriana Dawes
    Mathematical biology
    The Ohio State University

    Matthew Ferguson
    Physics
    Boise State University

    Dinah Loerke
    Physics
    University of Denver

    Megan Valentine
    Mechanical engineering
    University of California, Santa Barbara

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

What Constrains Microbial Diversity? Deriving New Ecological Principles for the Microbial World

  • Pankaj Mehta
    Physics
    Boston University

    Alvaro Sanchez
    Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    Yale University

Funded by the Simons Foundation

Conditional Gene Essentiality as Function of Cell Metabolic State

  • Adilson Motter
    Physics
    Northwestern University

    Kimberly Reynolds
    Systems Biology
    University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Rebooting the Gut Microbial Ecosystem Using Bacterial Dueling
(2nd Year Funding)

  • Brian Hammer
    Biology
    Georgia Institute of Technology

    Raghuveer Parthasarathy
    Physics
    University of Oregon

    Joao Xavier
    Computational Biology
    Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Funded by the Simons Foundation

Building an Artificial Motile Tissue through Self-Organized Rhythmic Contractility (2nd Year Funding)

  • Rae Robertson-Anderson
    Physics
    University of San Diego

    Jenny Ross
    Physics
    University of Massachusetts, Amherst

    Michael Rust
    Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
    University of Chicago

Funded by Research Corporation

2015 Team Awards

Rethinking the Idea of Cell Type

  • Grégoire Altan-Bonnet
    Computational Biology
    Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

    Pankaj Mehta
    Physics
    Boston University

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Immersive DNA Force Sensors and Predictive Mechanical Modeling for Tissue Morphogenesis

  • Margaret Gardel
    Physics
    University of Chicago

    Justin Kinney
    Quantitative Biology
    Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

    M. Lisa Manning
    Physics
    Syracuse University

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Rebooting the Gut Microbial Ecosystem Using Bacterial Dueling

  • Brian Hammer
    Biology
    Georgia Institute of Technology

    Raghuveer Parthasarathy
    Physics
    University of Oregon

    Joao Xavier
    Computational Biology
    Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Uncovering Essential Gene Functions by Exploiting Differentiation within a Biofilm or Lethal Gene Deletions Come Alive in Biofilms!

  • Kerwyn (KC) Huang
    Bioengineering
    Stanford University

    Gurol Suel
    Molecular Biology
    University of California, San Diego

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Building an Artificial Motile Tissue through Self-Organized Rhythmic Contractility

  • Rae Robertson-Anderson
    Physics
    University of San Diego

    Jenny Ross
    Physics
    University of Massachusetts, Amherst

    Michael Rust
    Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago

Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Successes

Follow-On Funding

High-Impact Publications

Conference Booklets

SPONSORS

Additional Support