The Millar research
group
www.amillar.org; ECB
wiki
News (old news is here)
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A novel machine learning algorithm applied to plant circadian data: Grzegorczyk et al. "Modelling non-stationary gene regulatory processes with a non-homogeneous Bayesian network and the allocation sampler". Bioinformatics 2008. |
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Synthetic Biology Standards network was launched, June 2008 |
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New software for sensitivity analysis of oscillator models, from Warwick (supersedes older IRC analysis). |
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A general mechanism to facilitate buffering of regulatory networks: Akman et al. "Isoform switching facilitates period control in the Neurospora crassa circadian clock". Molecular Systems Biology 2008. |
Biological Clocks
Plants, fungi, animals and some bacteria have internal, 24-hour clocks. These "circadian" clocks affect our lives in many ways, through industry, agriculture and human health.
Web tutorials on biological clocks: try these first, if circadian clocks are new to you.
Our research aims to understand how the circadian clock is constructed and adjusted, how it affects plant life and why the clock mechanisms are so complex. Most of our research focuses on Arabidopsis, which is a small plant with a big following. Molecular genetics and transgenic plants help us by revealing rhythms that are usually invisible: we use a reporter gene called luciferase to send us video footage when other genes are active, like the 24-hour loop at the top of this page. Mathematical modelling helps us to understand the complex data and to identify the principles behind the molecular detail. The circadian clock is an excellent system to develop new methods in this area, so studying plant clocks is one of CSBE's first projects. We are also constructing simpler clocks to test these principles using Synthetic Biology.
The links on this page lead to more details on each topic. Link to 700-word outline of our research projects, with results of a sample experiment.
Andrew Millar holds a Chair of Systems Biology at the University of Edinburgh. He is Co-Director of the Centre for Systems Biology at Edinburgh (CSBE), Systems Biology theme director for the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) and grant-holder for co-ordination of the Genomic Arabidopsis Resource Network (GARNet).
Details and links:
| Animals that glow in the dark. |
| Arabidopsis thaliana, the plant that we work with most. |
| Circadian Rhythms and biological timing. |
| Video Imaging, with details on our cameras. |
| The movies - Time-lapse video of plant circadian rhythms |
| Web conferencing for collaborations in systems biology |
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Edinburgh's Systems Biology Club |
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