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Ben O'Shaughnessy's group uses mathematical modeling, computational modeling, and machine learning methods to study embryo development, neurotransmission, exocytosis, cell division, and other fundamental processes in health and disease.

Neurotransmission, neurotransmitter release, exocytosis

We study neurotransmission and the machinery that releases neurotransmitters by exocytosis at neuronal synapses in the brain. This remarkable machinery achieves the millisecond temporal resolution required for neural circuits to encode information for cognition, sensation, and coordinated motor activity. Its misregulation is associated with neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. Similar mechanisms govern secretion of other essential bioactive compounds, including hormones such as insulin, cytokines in the immune system and enzymes.

Development of the embryo

The programs of development transform the early embryo of a few identical cells into the complex adult organism with extraordinary robustness to stochastic variations. We use machine learning and computational analysis to investigate the mechanisms that sculpt tissue and enforce robustness. We seek mechanisms of developmental disease to motivate prevention strategies.

Mechanics of cell division, mechanosensing

We investigate one of life’s most essential force-generating machines, the actomyosin contractile ring that divides cells at the end of the cell cycle during cytokinesis. Cell division propagates the genome and allows organisms to grow and repair, and its misregulation is the essential feature of cancer. Related interests in mechanobiology are mechanosensing and remodeling in the actomyosin cytoskeleton and regulation of cell wall growth in cell walled organisms.