Cell Signaling

Computational Models of Signaling Networks

My work immediately before joining OSU was as a postgraduate associate in the Stites lab at the Yale School of Medicine. My work there has focused on modeling cell signaling networks, particularly aspects of the Ras-MAPK pathway. I use ODE and equilibrium models, primarily written in Python and Matlab, as well as rule-based models with tools such as pysb and BioNetGen.

I focused on the activation mechanism of the Raf protein. Like many of the proteins in the MAPK pathway, Raf is involved in promoting cell proliferation, and is frequently mutated in cancer. Around 50% of melanomas have BRaf mutations, for instance. Raf activation has a large number of known steps, but the order and importance of many of the steps is unclear. In my preprint Analysis of the Modulation of RAF Signaling by 14-3-3 Proteins, I show that approximating the interactions of Raf and 14-3-3 as a single binding event is likely valid, based on an equilibrium model and the results of prior transfection experiments.