Professor

Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics

and Department of Systems Biology

Columbia University

 

 

 

I will discuss our recent evidence for a previously undescribed mechanism by which cells can achieve adaptive gene expression states using a health optimization strategy we call stochastic tuning. This process enables cells to adapt to unfamiliar or extreme environments where their conventional hard-coded regulatory systems no longer adequately function. I will discuss the implications of this phenomenon for our basic understanding of gene regulation and cellular adaptation.