Speaker: Norbert Perrimon, Ph.D., Professor of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School
Topic: Inter-organ communication: A Drosophila perspective
Mathematical modelling has become increasingly integrated into biological studies, in particular to problems in developmental biology. For example, decades of detailed genetic and molecular studies in Drosophila have provided a large body of experimental data that have enabled productive modelling of pattern formation. I will discuss our efforts at dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying the communication between organs in Drosophila, with the goal of describing the various hormonal systems that organs use to communicate and regulate physiology. Knowledge from these studies may ultimately help the mathematical formulation of basic principles in physiology.