Events Calendar

CENG Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Natasa Miskov-Zivanov , University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University

Talk Title: “Dynamic behavior of cell signaling networks - design and analysis of qualitative models”

Abstract: One of the ultimate goals of systems biology is to be able to predict a system’s dynamic behavior. At the same time, a greater understanding of how components interact to form integrated systems also informs and supports efforts in synthetic biology towards designing engineered biological systems. To this end, modeling and analyzing the dynamics of biological regulatory networks is a promising approach, but existing modeling methods often suffer from complexity issues and become inefficient with large networks.
In this talk, I will describe a methodology for designing and studying discrete models of cell signaling networks by utilizing engineering methods. This modeling approach allows for capturing a large network, which is otherwise hard to model and analyze using alternative approaches based on ordinary differential equations. This network can include cell stimulation and receptor signaling, signal transduction from receptors to activation of gene transcription factors, and cell response to stimulation. Although such coarser-grained models do not always include all mechanical details, they allow for very efficient studies of the system. These models help identify critical elements and connections, and provide means to test many hypotheses about the system. Specifically, I will present the model for T cell differentiation, which is critical in many immune-related pathologies. The determinants of the differentiation are not yet understood, and the analysis of the model led to new insights into this system: identification of key elements and regulation links, and the fact that relative timing on different pathways plays a crucial role in differentiation. Finally, I will also present a hardware-based approach, which allows for highly parallel model simulation and provides orders of magnitude speedup when compared to software simulation.
The methodology for discrete model design and analysis leverages the interactions between engineering and biology and will contribute to more efficient development of previously unattainable products, new strategies in medical research, and new therapies.


Biography: Natasa Miskov-Zivanov is a Research Associate in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and an Adjunct Faculty at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, in 2008 and 2005, respectively, and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2003. Her research interests include applications of computational methods, algorithms and tools for systems and synthetic biology, emerging technologies, bio-nanotechnology, and cyber-physical systems.

Host: Dr. Alice Parker

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Estela Lopez