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Research abstract
Summary: Tim Harris studies expression patterns and the resulting protein patterns that are responsible for the processes of cell differentiation and organism development.
Quantifying cellular activity on the level of single cells is now widely acknowledged as critical in a number of biological problems. In cultured cells, groups have shown significant cell-to-cell variation in mRNA and protein levels. Tracking of time-dependent expression has revealed the intricacies of mRNA and protein regulation with cell cycle. Expression patterns and the resulting protein patterns are responsible for the processes of cell differentiation and organism development, and incorrect mRNA and protein levels are markers of disease.
Dr. Harris's interest in the topic stems from his work at Amersham Biosciences, generating automated, quantitative image analysis for biological assays on the high-throughput confocal system his group had developed. Ideally, these processes would be studied in vivo, tracking both mRNA and protein concentrations in live organisms, through time courses of quantitative three-dimensional imaging. A close second is three-dimensional imaging of fixed cells, tissues, and organisms. Although such experiments lose the ability to track living individuals, they allow the use of FISH probes for mRNA and antibody labels for protein measurements.
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