Soma Mandal Graduate Assistant

Areas of Specialization struCtural Biology & BioinformatiCs Plant genetiCs Protein BioChemistry DeveloPmental Biology ComPutational BioinformatiCs laBoratory moleCular genetiCs of leaf DeveloPment PlastiD moleCular genetiCs moleCular genetiCs of meiotiC reComBination & Chromosome segregation moleCular Biology of Plant DeveloPment DeveloPmental & moleCular genetiCs segmentation During animal DeveloPment synaPse formation & the Central nervous system meChanisms of transCriPtion in miCroorganisms reProDuCtive Biology, Cell-Cell interaCtions emBryoniC Patterning, hematoPoiesis & ePigenetiC Control of gene exPression in DrosoPhilia outreaCh aCtivities Cell anD Cell ProDuCts fermentation faCility transCriPtional regulation in yeast BeneDiCt miChael fellow Charles anD Johanna BusCh fellow list of PuBliCations Waksman institute faculty DiRectoRy Mission Statement The Waksman Institute's mission is to conduct research in microbial molecular genetics, developmental molecular genetics, plant molecular genetics, and structural and computational biology. The Institute also provides a catalyst for general university initiatives, a life science infrastructure, undergraduate and graduate education, and a public service function for the state. Background The principal mission of the Waksman Institute is research. While the initial emphasis of the institute at its founding was microbiology, its focus soon turned toward molecular genetics, and was later broadened to include organisms other than viruses, bacteria, and fungi. As a reflection of this new, broadened, vision of research at the Institute, under previous directors fruit flies and plants were also studied. Since my assumption of the Institute's directorship, I have strived to expand its investigative horizons to include computational and structural biology, and a further emphasis on the molecular genetics of regulation of gene expression and biomolecular interactions. This new expansion of the Waksman Institute's investigative goals has stimulated the introduction of interdisciplinary programs with chemistry, computer science, and plant science. Indeed, the Institute's research mission has evolved from a diversity of disciplines centered on antibiotics to a unified discipline of molecular genetics with a more diverse set of biological problems. The Institute today employs faculty teams that concentrate on certain classes of organisms amenable to genetic analysis such as bacteria and fungi (Escherichia coli and yeast), animal systems (e.g., Drosophila and C. elegans), and plants (Arabidopsis, tobacco, and maize). Although the Institute focuses on basic academic questions in microbial, animal, and plant research, it continues to seek practical and commercially viable applications of its discoveries. Historically, in fact, the Institute owes its existence to the symbiotic relationship that exists between academic research institutions and the private sector. In 1939 Dr. Selman Waksman, the Institute's founder …