All cells must control the way in which they read out the information encoded in their genes, and this control must make sense in relation to their environment. Much of this control happens at the step where DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA. In this symposium we explore recent progress in transcriptional control: new experiments that give us an unprecedented view of molecular events during transcription, new theoretical ideas about the way in which large numbers of molecules can cooperate to achieve more effective control, and new results on the idea that real biological control networks maybe be selected to reach the physical limits on their performance as information processing devices.

9:30 AM Coffee and bagels

10:00 AM Transcription factors, chromosome topology, and transcription control
Jie Xiao, Johns Hopkins University

11:30 AM Coffee

12:00 PM Phase separation and regulation of gene transcription in eukaryotes
Arup Chakraborty, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1:30 PM Lunch

2:30 PM DNA polymer physics and transcription dynamics in the developing fly embryo
Thomas Gregor, Princeton University and Institut Pasteur

4:00 PM Coffee

4:30 PM Deriving the Drosophila gap gene network from optimization principles
Thomas Sokolowski, IST Austria

All are welcome, but please follow the links to register.

Download Event PDF here.
Download Full Series PDF here.
Register here.

Sponsored by the Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences, and by the CUNY doctoral programs in Physics and Biology. Supported in part by the Center for the Physics of Biological Function, a joint effort of The Graduate Center and Princeton University. For more information see https://biophysics.princeton.edu.