Four undergraduate students — one from Washington University and three from Colgate University — and a WUSTL graduate student partook in a systems biology summer program this year on the Hilltop Campus.
The students participated in an eight-week course in systems biology concepts and methods, while working in a systems biology laboratory at WUSTL. They also attended a “Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research” (FIBR) workshop, held on June 2-3, prior to the course and research experience.
The FIBR workshop was led by Himadri Pakrasi, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, and FIBR collaborators Rajeev Aurora, Ph.D., of Saint Louis University; Kenneth D. Belanger, Ph.D., professor of biology at Colgate University; Bijoy Ghosh, Ph.D., WUSTL professor of electrical and systems engineering; and Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor and chair of the WUSTL Department of Biology.
Quatrano, an alum of Colgate University, has maintained close ties with his alma mater and Berlanger.
“It was wonderful to see undergraduates from Colgate, my alma mater, here working in our laboratories this summer along with Washington University students such as Ben Israelow, who worked in my lab on this FIBR project,” Quatrano said.
“This interaction, not only of students from different campuses, but from different disciplines and at different levels of education, was very exciting.”
Systems biology is the study of complex networks of interactions occurring between and within living organisms. A primary focus of systems biology research at the cellular and molecular level is to examine how a change in conditions — such as a change in environment, introduction of a mutation or exposure to a drug — affects the expression of every gene in a particular cell and to understand what genetic or biochemical interactions stimulate these changes in gene expression.
Because of the large datasets, advanced computational methods, sophisticated technology and complex biological questions involved, systems biology is dependent upon collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts between groups of researchers with expertise in mathematics, computer science, physics, engineering, statistics, chemistry and biology.
Participants received a stipend, free housing at WUSTL and free travel to St. Louis for the Colgate students.
“The three undergraduate students from Colgate were the first group of visiting students from that institution who have participated in our systems biology endeavor,” Pakrasi said.
“Erin Silver, one of the three students, worked in my laboratory with two other undergraduate students, one from Mizzou and the other from the New College in Florida. Their research project was enormously successful and an integral part of our systems-level project on circadian rhythm in photosynthetic organisms.”
Jane Hornickel, a junior neuroscience major from Colgate, spent much of her time at WUSTL working in Ghosh’s laboratory.
“When I began my work this summer, I had absolutely no computer programming experience,” Hornickel said. “After my time in Professor Ghosh’s lab, I am proud to say I have learned basic programming skills and I am able to write code in the GENESIS language.
“In Professor Ghosh’s lab, I was able to learn a new skill while combining it with my interest in neuroscience. I adapted a model of the turtle visual cortex, created by members of the lab from experimental data. The members of Professor Ghosh’s lab were very supportive and encouraging.”
Hornickel said that Ghosh felt that all of the lab members should know what everyone else was working on, so everyone took turns presenting their work in lab meetings.
“During the meetings, everyone was ready to offer constructive criticism and ask difficult questions, helping the presenter immeasurably,” Hornickel said.
“I really enjoyed working at Washington University and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so.”
The WUSTL graduate student was Emma Huang from mathematics in Arts & Sciences. She said she found the systems biology program very interesting.
“Although at first I was a little disoriented by having to work in a field foreign to my own, I was very excited to see how biologists can apply statistical methods,” Huang said.
“Collaborating with Professor Nan Lin (WUSTL assistant professor of mathematics), I developed several programs inputting missing values in gene expression profiles, and was able to compare the efficacy of different statistical techniques in biological application.
“My sincere thanks to professors Himadri Pakrasi and Nan Lin for their tremendous contributions to this project.”