Research Interests

The objective of my research is to construct synthetic genetic networks in mammalian cells. Currently, I am trying to build a synthetic network from tetracycline-regulated transcription factors that is capable of producing oscillations. The output of the system will be green fluorescent protein (GFP). Constructing a synthetic oscillator is important because the production of certain proteins is oscillatory in multicellular organisms and we want to understand how this type of behavior arises. Because gene regulatory networks in natural systems can be quite complex, we begin by constructing and analyzing simpler synthetic networks or modules. Eventually, the results from this type of research may have applications in gene therapy.