Tim Elston

The Elston lab is interested in understanding the dynamics of complex biological systems, and developing reliable mathematical models that capture the essential components of these systems. The projects in the lab encompass a wide variety of biological phenomena including transcriptional networks, the movement of flagellar dynein, desensitization of G-protein signaling, immune responses to the influenza virus, and calcium signaling in plants. Each of these phenomena has a wealth of biological and biochemical information associated with them, but little is known about how each molecule behaves relative to other molecules in a quantitative way, in real time. For example, thousands of transcription factors have been identified, as have the enhancer/promoter regions of their target genes. Despite this wealth of information, there is still considerable debate surrounding the fundamental mechanism of enhancer action. Changes in transcription level following activation could be due to either an alteration in the rate of transcription by RNA polymerase II (graded response) or a change in the probability of the promoter being active (binary response). Gene networks are inherently noisy, and stochastic effects can play a significant role in their dynamics. The Elston lab is interested in constructing realistic models of these regulatory systems that take into account intrinsic noise and stochastic effects in order to generate more accurate models that have better predictive value.

Selected Publications:
Serohijos AW, Chen Y, Ding F, Elston TC, Dokholyan NV. (2006) A structural model reveals energy transduction in dynein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 103(49):18540-5.

Wang X, Hao N, Dohlman HG, Elston TC. (2006) Bistability, stochasticity, and oscillations in the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade. Biophys J. 90(6):1961-78.

Fricks J, Wang H, Elston TC. (2005) A numerical algorithm for investigating the role of the motor-cargo linkage in molecular motor-driven transport. J Theor Biol 239(1):33-48.

Goedecke DM, Elston TC (2005) A model for the oscillatory motion of single dynein molecules. J Theor Biol 232:27-39.

Yildirim N, Hao N, Dohlman HG, Elston TC (2004) Mathematical modeling of RGS and G-protein regulation in yeast. Methods Enzymol 389:383-398.

Pirone JR, Elston TC (2004) Fluctuations in transcription factor binding can explain the graded and binary responses observed in inducible gene expression. J Theor Biol 226:111-121.