BME School Chair Candidate 

Andre Levchenko 

John C. Malone Professor of Biomedical Engineering 

Founding Director, Yale Systems Biology Institute 

Founding Director, Yale Cancer Systems Biology Center 

Yale University 

 "A Systems Analysis of Cell Response to Complex Micro-environments: 

from Fundamental Science to Clinical Applications"

Living cells do not exist in isolation. Rather they are tightly integrated with their environment, which supplies a host of biochemical and mechanical cues. These cues are processed by sophisticated signaling and regulatory networks which enable conditioning of cellular behavior and decision making on the past, current and future states of the cell environments. Malfunctioning of these signaling and decision making mechanisms is frequently related to the onset and progression of various pathologies. In this talk, I will highlight the current views on how cells and tissues process extracellular signals and respond to them, focusing in particular on the role of topography of extracellular matrix. I will introduce newly discovered phenomena, including Topotaxis, and emphasize how these new findings can help explain the relative contributions of genetics, biochemistry and biomechanics to diverse healthy and disease tissue states. Finally, I will explain how this approach has lent itself to development of novel diagnostic tests and drug development to control aggressive cancers.

Please see complete interview schedule at www.feedback.coe.gatech.edu. 

Questions: BME-search@coe.gatech.edu