Over the past decade, our group has focused on discerning the molecular mechanisms that can reconcile how transcriptional control during animal development can be simultaneously precise (e.g. sharp in response to variable inputs) and plastic (e.g. able to harbor genetic variation at multiple scales). I will discuss how our work supports a view of transcription as a kinetic process, using quantitative experiments and mathematical theory. I will be joined by two postdoctoral fellows from my group, Tim Harden and Rosa Martinez-Corral, who will each present a short description of their own work investigating the concept of “kinetic synergy”.

Angela DePace

Associate Professor of Systems Biology, Harvard University Medical School