Platform

  • Search
  • Seminars
  • Conferences
  • Jobs

Resources

  • Submit Content
  • About Us

© 2025 World Wide

Open knowledge for all • Started with World Wide Neuro • A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization

Analytics consent required

World Wide relies on analytics signals to operate securely and keep research services available. Accept to continue, or leave the site.

Review the Privacy Policy for details about analytics processing.

World Wide
SeminarsConferencesWorkshopsCoursesJobsMapsFeedLibrary
← Back

Building Synthetic Cell Understanding

Back to SeminarsBack
Seminar✓ Recording AvailablePhysics of Life

Building a synthetic cell: Understanding the clock design and function

Qiong Yang

U Michigan - Ann Arbor

Schedule
Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Showing your local timezone

Schedule

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

4:00 AM America/New_York

Watch recording
Host: NIH Systems Biology Seminars

Seminar location

Seminar location

Not provided

No geocoded details are available for this content yet.

Access Seminar

Meeting Password

20892

Use this password when joining the live session

Watch the seminar

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Recording provided by the organiser.

Event Information

Format

Recorded Seminar

Recording

Available

Host

NIH Systems Biology Seminars

Duration

70.00 minutes

Seminar location

Seminar location

Not provided

No geocoded details are available for this content yet.

World Wide map

Abstract

Clock networks containing the same central architectures may vary drastically in their potential to oscillate, raising the question of what controls robustness, one of the essential functions of an oscillator. We computationally generate an atlas of oscillators and found that, while core topologies are critical for oscillations, local structures substantially modulate the degree of robustness. Strikingly, two local structures, incoherent and coherent inputs, can modify a core topology to promote and attenuate its robustness, additively. The findings underscore the importance of local modifications to the performance of the whole network. It may explain why auxiliary structures not required for oscillations are evolutionary conserved. We also extend this computational framework to search hidden network motifs for other clock functions, such as tunability that relates to the capabilities of a clock to adjust timing to external cues. Experimentally, we developed an artificial cell system in water-in-oil microemulsions, within which we reconstitute mitotic cell cycles that can perform self-sustained oscillations for 30 to 40 cycles over multiple days. The oscillation profiles, such as period, amplitude, and shape, can be quantitatively varied with the concentrations of clock regulators, energy levels, droplet sizes, and circuit design. Such innate flexibility makes it crucial to studying clock functions of tunability and stochasticity at the single-cell level. Combined with a pressure-driven multi-channel tuning setup and long-term time-lapse fluorescence microscopy, this system enables a high-throughput exploration in multi-dimension continuous parameter space and single-cell analysis of the clock dynamics and functions. We integrate this experimental platform with mathematical modeling to elucidate the topology-function relation of biological clocks. With FRET and optogenetics, we also investigate spatiotemporal cell-cycle dynamics in both homogeneous and heterogeneous microenvironments by reconstructing subcellular compartments.

Topics

FRETclock networksmicroemulsionsmitotic cell cyclesoptogeneticsoscillatorsrobustnesssynthetic cellsystems biologytunability

About the Speaker

Qiong Yang

U Michigan - Ann Arbor

Contact & Resources

Personal Website

www-personal.umich.edu/~qiongy/index.html

Related Seminars

Seminar42% match - Relevant

Rethinking Attention: Dynamic Prioritization

neuro

Decades of research on understanding the mechanisms of attentional selection have focused on identifying the units (representations) on which attention operates in order to guide prioritized sensory p

Jan 6, 2025
George Washington University
Seminar42% match - Relevant

The Cognitive Roots of the Problem of Free Will

neuro

Jan 7, 2025
Bielefeld & Amsterdam
Seminar42% match - Relevant

The neural basis of exploration and decision-making in individuals and groups

neuro

Jan 8, 2025
Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, Konstanz
World Wide calendar

World Wide highlights

December 2025 • Syncing the latest schedule.

View full calendar
Awaiting featured picks
Month at a glance

Upcoming highlights