Title of the presentation:

Deciphering cellular networks and pathways using yeast functional genomics

Biography:

Dr. Brenda Andrews is Professor and Chair of the Banting & Best Department of Medical Research within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is also Director of the Terrence Donnelly Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (The Donnelly Centre), an interdisciplinary research institute with the mandate to create a research environment that encourages integration of biology, computer science, engineering and chemistry and that spans leading areas of biomedical research. After receiving her PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, Dr. Andrews obtained her early training in genetics with the late Dr. Ira Herskowitz at the University of California San Francisco. In 1991, Dr. Andrews was recruited to the Department of Medical Genetics (now Molecular Genetics) at the University of Toronto. She became Chair of the Department in 1999, a position she held for 5 years before assuming her current positions. Dr. Andrews' current research interests include mechanisms of cell cycle control, control of cell function by kinases and other enzymes and the regulation of cell polarity and morphogenesis. Dr. Andrews is also involved in a number of functional genomics projects and is working with colleagues on a large collaborative project to build genetic interaction maps and to understand the role of genetic interactions in normal and diseased cells. Her research is currently funded by the CIHR, the Ontario Research Fund, the National Institutes of Health USA and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). Dr. Andrews was an MRC Scientist and Scholar and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She is Director of the Genetic Networks Program of the CIFAR and serves on several grant review panels as well as a number of editorial and scientific advisory boards both in Canada and internationally.

Abstract:

Determining how combinations of genetic variants or perturbations manifest themselves, particularly in the context of human disease, is a formidable challenge. To define general principles of genetic networks, our group has focused on the systematic identification of genetic interactions in the budding yeast. Synthetic genetic array (SGA) analysis provides a high throughput approach for systematic analysis of genetic interactions in budding yeast. We have used SGA analysis to construct a genome-scale genetic interaction map by examining 9.0 million gene-gene pairs for synthetic genetic interactions, generating quantitative genetic interaction profiles for most genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The global network identifies functional cross-connections between all bioprocesses, mapping a cellular wiring diagram of pleiotropy. We have also expanded our SGA platform to encompass other types of genetic interactions and to include cell biological phenotypes and quantitative read-outs of the activity of specific biological pathways. In one project, we combined SGA with a high-content screening (HCS) platform, to monitor morphological phenotypes of the growing mitotic spindle in both single gene deletion mutants and in selected double mutant arrays, sensitized for spindle defects. HCS enables virtually any pathway that can be monitored with a fluorescent reporter to be assessed quantitatively within the context of numerous genetic and environmental perturbations.