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About the Department of Systems Biology

One of the defining features of living organisms is their astonishing complexity. Even seemingly simple single cell organisms such as microbes display exceedingly complex behaviors, determined by intricate molecular networks in which large numbers of molecular components, pathways and chemical reactions act together. These behaviors have fascinated scientists for decades and include development, response to pathogenic and environmental insults and interactions with other organisms. Understanding how complexity of living systems arises and coordinates cellular function and pathologies continues to be one of the principal goals of biomedical research today. Read more about how the Department of Systems Biology tackles these questions on our Research and About pages.



The Department of Systems Biology (DSB) studies how biological complexity can be derived and understood from the interplay between individual components and processes that make up living organisms.

For information about our Graduate and Summer Undergraduate Programs as well as the application process, please see our Education Page.


DSB Spotlight

FeiHang

Two papers published together in Nature increase our understanding of metabolic dynamics at a systems level and identify novel metabolic design principles. Read more about this work, exciting moments in the projects, and the two co-first authors who spearheaded the work, Dr. Xuhang Li and Dr. HeFei Zhang here.

Read the papers:

Systems-level design principles of metablic rewiring in an animal

A systems-level, semiquantitative landscape of metabolic flux in C. elegans

Article from UMASS Chan News: Two papers by Walhout lab in Nature highlight novel metabolic principles

Additonal news from the DSB

Upcoming Seminars

 
Olivier Pourquie', HMS
"Deconstructing human musculo-skeletal development in vitro"
Thursday, March 6, 2025, 11am (AS6-2072)
Host: Marian Walhout
 
Eileen Furlong, EMBL
Friday, April 11, 2025, 10am (AS8-2072)
Host: Marian Walhout
 
 
Bart Deplancke, EPFL
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 1pm (AS6-2072)
Host: Marian Walhout 
 
 
Peter Turnbaugh, UCSF
Thursday, May 15, 2025, 11am (AS6-2072)
Host: DSB Trainees

 


Recent Publications

 

Genetic suppression interactions are highly conserved across genetically diverse yeast isolates

G3. 2025 March 3
Claire Paltenghi, Jolanda van Leeuwen

Systems-level design principles of metabolic rewiring in an animal

Nature. 2025 February 26
Xuhang Li, Hefei Zhang, Thomas Hodder, Wen Wang, Chad L. Myers, L. Safak Yilmaz, Albertha J.M. Walhout

A systems-level, semiquantitative landscape of metabolic flux in C. elegans

Nature. 2025 February 26
Hefei Zhang, Xuhang Li, L. Tenzin Tseyang, Gabrielle E. Giese, Hui Wang, Bo Yao, Jingyan Zhang, Rachel L. Neve, Elizabeth A. Shank, Jessica B. Spinelli, L. Safak Yilmaz, Albertha J.M. Walhout

Enhanced flux potential analysis links changes in enzyme expression to metabolic flux

Molecular Systems Biology. 2025 February 17
Xuhang Li, Albertha J.M. Walhout, L. Safak Yilmaz

A systematic survey of TF function in E. coli suggests RNAP stabilization is a prevalent strategy for both repressors and activators

Nucleic Acids Research. 2025 February 8
Sunil Guharajan, Vinuselvi Parisutham, Robert C Brewster

Insights into phosphate homeostasis regulation by XPR1

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 2024 December 30
Daniel P. Bondeson

Colibactin-induced damage in bacteria is cell contact independent

mBio. 2024 November 22
Emily Lowry and Amir Mitchell

The chromosome folding problem and how cells solve it

Cell.  2024 November 14
Job Dekker and Leonid A. Mirny

Colibactin leads to a bacteria-specific mutation pattern and self-inflicted DNA damage

Genome Research.  2024 August 16
Emily Lowry, Yiging Wang, Tal Dagan, Amir Mitchell
 
Nature Metabolism - Lee

Host-microbe interactions rewire metabolism in a C. elegans model of leucine breakdown deficiency

Nature Metabolism. 2024 August 8
Yong-Uk Lee, Bennett W. Fox, Rui Guo, Brian J. Curtis, Jingfang Yu, Sookyung Kim, Shivani Nanda, Victor Baumann, L. Safak Yilmaz, Cole M. Haynes, Frank C. Schroeder, Albertha J.M. Walhout