Charles Baker ('12), Tao Jia, and Prof. Rahul Kulkarni publish paper in Physical Review E

Undergraduate student Charles Baker, former graduate student Tao Jia, and Prof. Rahul Kulkarni recently published a paper titled "Stochastic modeling of regulation of gene expression by multiple small RNAs" in Phys. Rev. E 85, 061915 (2012)

A new paradigm for cellular regulation has emerged in recent years with the discovery of novel non-coding genes call small RNAs. Another key focus of current research is a quantitative understanding of the role of fluctuations (noise) in gene expression. To explore the potential roles of small RNAs as regulators of noise in gene expression, Charles Baker, Tao Jia and Rahul Kulkarni propose and analyze a stocchastic model for regulation by multiple small RNAs. The exact analytical results derived lead to new insights into the role of multiple small RNAs in independently controlling the mean and noise in gene expression. This project was initiated as an undergraduate course project in the "Introduction to Biophysics" course and highlights the value of integrating undergraduate research and teaching.