Campus Alert: Find the latest UMMS campus news and resources at umassmed.edu/coronavirus

Site Menu
Search Close Search
Search Close Search

Our program aims to explore the mechanisms and principles of biological complexity. This is an exciting time for systems biology, with rapid technological advances in many fields including genomics, computational biology, imaging, mass spectroscopy, and bioinformatics. Research in the program develops and leverages technological breakthroughs in these areas to explore the biology of complex systems. Today's scientific research in general, and systems biology in particular, is increasingly multi-disciplinary. Therefore, we aim to create an intellectually diverse environment where combining different fields is encouraged and where students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty from different backgrounds work together in a collegial and interactive atmosphere. 
Page Menu

Featured publications from each lab of the Program in Systems Biology

Brewster Lab Publications

Das D, Dey S, Brewster RC*, Chuobey S.* (2017). Effect of Transcription Factor Resource Sharing on Gene Expression noise, PLoS Comp Bio 13, e1005491.

Dekker Lab Publications

Abramo K, Valton A-L, Venev SV, Ozadam H, Fox AN, Dekker J. (2019). A Chromosome Folding Intermediate at the Condensin-to-Cohesin Transition During Telophase. Nat Cell Biol 21, 1393-1402

Oomen ME, Hansen AS, Liu Y, Darzacq X, Dekker J. (2019). CTCF Sites Display Cell Cycle-Dependent Dynamics in Factor Binding and Nucleosome Positioning. Genome Res 29, 236-49.

Lee Lab Publications

Schwartz HR*, Richards R*, Fontana RE, Joyce AJ, Honeywell ME, Lee MJ. (2020). Drug GRADE: an Integrated Analysis of Population Growth and Cell Death Reveals Drug-Specific and Cancer Subtype-Specific Response Profiles. Cell Rep 31, 107800.

Richards R, Schwartz HR, Honeywell ME, Stewart MS, Cruz-Gordillo P, Joyce AJ, Landry BD, Lee MJ. (2020) Drug Antagonism and Single Agent Dominance Result from Differences in Death Kinetics. Nature Chem Biol 16, 791-800.

Mitchell Lab Publications

Shank Lab Publications

Yannarell SM, Grandchamp GM, Chen S-Y, Daniels KE, Shank EA#. (2019) A dual-species biofilm with emergent mechanical and protective properties. Journal of Bacteriology. pii: JB.00670-18. 

Grubbs KJ*, Bleich RM*, Santa Maria KC, Allen SE, AgBiome Team, Shank EA#, and Bowers AA#. (2017) Large-scale bioinformatics analysis of Bacillus genomes uncovers conserved roles of natural products in bacterial physiology. mSystems, Nov 14;2(6). pii: e00040-17.

Walhout Lab Publications

Zhang J, Li X, Olmedo M, Holdorf AD, Shang Y, Artal-Sanz M, Yilmaz LS, Walhout AJM. (2019). A Delicate Balance between Bacterial Iron and Reactive Oxygen Species Supports Optimal C. elegans Development. Cell Host Microbe 26, 400-11.

Bulcha JT, Giese GE, Ali MZ, Lee Y-U, Walker MD, Holdorf AD, Yilmaz LS, Brewster RC, Walhout AJM. (2019). A Persistence Detector for Metabolic Network Rewiring in an Animal. Cell Rep 26, 460-68.

PSB News

UMMS students produce hand sanitizer for nearby hospitals amid COVID-19 pandemic

April 10, 2020

In a time of dire need, as medical professionals are working to care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and critical supplies of protective gear are running low, students in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Medical School produced nearly 130 gallons of hand sanitizer in less than three days to help sustain local hospitals. 

Job Dekker elected to European Molecular Biology Organization

July 07, 2020

Dr. Job Dekker

The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) has elected Job Dekker, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, the Joseph J. Byrne Chair in Biomedical Research, professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology, and co-director of the Program in Systems Biology, to lifetime membership in the organization. Dr. Dekker and 62 other leading scientists from around the world were elected in recognition of their remarkable achievements in the life sciences.

Elizabeth Shank, PhD, joins the Program in Systems Biology

January 2, 2020

Dr. Elizabeth Shank

PSB welcomes Dr. Elizabeth Shank to UMass Medical School as an Associate Professor of Microbiology & Physiological Systems. Beth and her lab study microbiolal activities and how they impact their hosts and ecosystem. They are particularly fascinated by the idea that microbes are able to generate and secrete chemical cues (specialized or secondary metabolites) that can act as interspecies signals to influence the physiology and metabolism of their microbial neighbors, and thus contribute to the stability and functioning of complex microbial communities.