Max Wilson

Biography

Max Wilson’s early interest in Molecular Biology was nurtured by a wonderful set of mentors–Drs. Rachel Mertz, Amy Vollmer, Elizabeth Vallen, and Jonathan Raper, to name just a few– he had at Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from Swarthmore College he received his PhD degree in Molecular Biology at Princeton University in 2015 under the supervision of Drs. Zemer Gitai and Ned Wingreen where he combined theoretical and experimental techniques to understand the role of mesoscale structures in metabolism and cell death. For his post-doctoral studies he stayed at Princeton to work with Dr. Jared Toettcher where he developed cellular optogenetic tools to dissect how information is transmitted from signaling pathways through the central dogma. Max joined the UCSB faculty in the Fall of 2018.

Research

The Wilson Lab combines tools from Biology, Engineering, and Physics to understand the cell’s perceptual field. What can cells perceive? How do they perceive it? How do they make complex decisions? Ultimately we are interested in divining the design principles that enable complex signaling networks to process information. To this end we have become experts in combining light-switchable (optogenetic) molecules to precisely tune inputs to these molecular networks with a variety of fluorescent output reporters in our test-bed model system, human induced pluripotent stem cells.

Selected Publications

P T Ravindran, M Z Wilson (2018) Lighting up cancer dynamics. Trends in Cancer

M Z Wilson, P T Ravindran, W Lim, J Toettcher (2017) Tracing information flow from Erk to target gene induction reveals mechanisms of dynamic and combinatorial control. Molecular Cell

A Goglia, M Z Wilson, D B DiGiornio, J Toettcher (2017) Optogenetic control of Ras/Erk Signaling using the Phy-Pif system.Methods Mol Bio

M Z Wilson, R Wang, Z Gitai, M R Seyedsayamdost (2015) Mode of Action and resistance studies unveil new roles for tropodithietic acid as an anticancer agent and the γ-glutamyl cycle as a proton sink. Proc Nat Acad Sci.

M Castellana*, M Z Wilson*, Y Xu, P Joshi, I Cristea, Z Gitai, N Wingreen (2014) Enzyme Clustering can induce metabolic channeling. Nature Biotechnology.

M Z Wilson and Z Gitai (2013) Beyond the cytoskeleton: mesoscale assemblies and their function in spatial organization.Curr Opin Microbiol.