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Kevin  A.  Janes
Degree(s): Ph.D.
Graduate School: MIT
Primary Appointment: Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests:
Our group develops experimental and computational techniques for quantitatively monitoring signaling networks as they become activated by diverse stimuli and perturbations.

Email Address: kaj5f@virginia.edu
Research Description

Changes in cellular behavior underlie development, disease, and homeostasis. The response of cells to external factors depends upon the synthesis, degradation, and modification of genes and proteins. These regulated events act as "signals" for coordinating cell function. Intracellular signaling is highly dynamic, interconnected, and context dependent, making it difficult to predict how any one signal contributes to the control of cell fate. Understanding how signaling networks enable cells to respond to their environment is important for diseases such as cancer, where the molecular "signal processing" has gone awry and cellular responses are inappropriate.

Our group develops experimental and computational techniques for quantitatively monitoring signaling networks as they become activated by diverse stimuli and perturbations. These tools allow us to collect complex datasets, which can be analyzed by "data-driven" modeling to address network-level questions about signal transduction. Fundamentally, our approach is problem driven, involving techniques that range from enzyme-activity assays in cell populations to gene-expression measurements in individual microdissected cells. We are currently interested in studying the tissue responses of colonic epithelia and the morphogenetic responses of 3D-cultured mammary epithelia in vitro.

Selected Publications
  • Miller-Jensen K*, Janes KA*, Brugge JS, Lauffenburger DA. (2007) Common effector processing mediates cell-specific responses to stimuli. Nature, 448, 604-608.
  • Janes KA, Yaffe MB. (2006) Data-driven modelling of signal-transduction networks. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, 7, 820-8.
  • Janes KA, Gaudet S, Albeck JG, Nielsen UB, Lauffenburger DA, Sorger PK. (2006) The Response of Human Epithelial Cells to TNF Involves an Inducible Autocrine Cascade. Cell, 124, 1225-39.
  • Janes KA*, Albeck JG*, Gaudet S, Sorger PK, Lauffenburger DA, Yaffe MB. (2005) A systems model of signaling identifies a molecular basis set for cytokine-induced apoptosis. Science, 310, 1646-53.
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    Contact Information
      Office Address: PO Box 800759, 415 Lane Road, Room 2014, 
      Office Phone: +1 434-243-2126
      Fax Phone: +1 434-982-3870
      Home Phone: +1 617-461-9210

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