May, 2012: BMEGG Graduate Research Conference: Our lab participated in the first annual BME graduate research conference. Julie presented a poster on our work on stochastic modeling of gene regulation networks.

April, 2012: Our latest paper has just been published as an invited topical review in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter [check it out].

January, 2012: Our latest Biophysical Journal article has been highlighted in the Biophysical Society Newsletter.

January, 2012: BMES/BESA Undergraduate Research Fair: Our lab participated in the annual undergraduate research fair. Danny presented a poster on our work on computational modeling of signaling networks.

November, 2011: Our latest article has just been published in the Biophysical Journal [read more] ! … and it has been highlighted as featured article!!

October, 2011: BMES annual meeting: Danny will be giving a talk at the Platform Session on “Mathematical and Computational Models of Cellular and Molecular Processes” (Track: Systems Biology, Bioinformatics and Computational Bioengineering) in October!

September, 2011: UCDMC Annual Cancer Center Symposium: Danny presented a poster on our work on TGF-beta and BMP signaling pathways!

June, 2011: Our latest article just published in advance in Nucleic Acids Research has been highlighted as a featured article [read more]. “Featured articles represent the top 5% of papers in terms of originality, significance and scientific excellence”!

May 20th, 2011: Our latest article has just been published in advance in Nucleic Acids Research [read more] !

The research of the Saiz Lab focuses on the integration of the molecular properties of the cellular components into the dynamics of relevant cellular processes, including signal transduction and gene regulation and their combined networks, with special interest in those altered in cancer and other diseases. Integration of the events that follow from the sensing of extracellular signals to the resulting cellular responses is needed to faithfully understand the functioning of the cell as a unit. Our work is highly interdisciplinary, drawing from techniques and tools from chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, biomedical sciences, and engineering; a key feature required for successful approaches to molecular systems biology. We combine computational and theoretical approaches together with experimental data to build models for accurately predicting the cellular behavior in terms of molecular properties. This type of models is also used “in reverse” to infer detailed molecular properties, such as the in vivo DNA mechanics, from physiological measurements in cell populations.

In general, we want to understand and to follow the impact of molecular perturbations in the cellular components, such as a mutation in a protein or interactions with small molecules or drugs, through the different cellular processes up to the cellular behavior. [read more... Leonor Saiz profile at Biomedical Engineering]

Research Interests

Computational and theoretical approaches to the study of biological networks at the cellular and molecular level. Molecular systems biology. Multiscale and multilevel approaches to biomolecular processes. Macromolecular complex assembly on DNA, membranes, and scaffolds.  Statistical mechanics basis of gene regulation and signal transduction. Noise in cellular processes. In vivo biomolecular mechanics. Molecular biophysics: membranes, membrane associated proteins, and their interactions with small molecules and drugs.