Time: Monday, November 18, 2002, 3-4 P.M.
Place: Debartolo Hall, Room 136
Speaker: Dennis Bray
From: Cambridge University,United Kingdom

Topic: Emergent Properties in a Cluster of Molecular Receptors Abstract

Dennis Bray received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. and postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School before returning to UK. He is the author of over a hundred research papers in neurobiology, cell biology, and computational biology; coauthor of three volumes of the classical textbook, used by generations of biologists The Molecular Biology of the Cell (Garland Publishing); co-author of Essential Cell Biology; and author of Cell Movements, recently published in its second edition. A summary of recent research interests and publications may be found at
www.anat.cam.ac.uk/comp-cell

Abstract:
Our work on the chemotaxis signal pathway in E.coli has led us to a cluster of receptors on the bacterial surface. we recently proposed an atomic level structure for this cluster and are currently using computational methods to examine the diffusive, biochemical, and conformational events in the lattice and its subjacent cytoplasm. The dynamic complexity of this small volume of cytoplasm is enormous and far greater than one could measure experimentally. But communication between different parts of the lattice, for example through conformational interactions between neighboring receptors, may lead to the emergence of patterns. Recent evidence supports the view that this cluster of several thousand receptors and their associated proteins function as an integrated unit. Its sensitivity and range of response is far greater that could be achieved by the individual molecular components.