Faculty Directory
Madhav Mani

Associate Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics

Contact

2145 Sheridan Road
Tech
Evanston, IL 60208-3109

Email Madhav Mani

Website

Madhav Mani Research

Departments

Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics

Affiliations

PhD Program in Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences

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Education

Ph.D Applied Mathematics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

S.M. Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Masters of Advanced Studies in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge University, England

M.A. in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, England

B.A. in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, England


Research Interests

Life is often presented as a pinnacle of complexity with the root of the difficulty laying in the multiplicity of its constituents and the intricacy of their interactions. Knowing every constituent and interaction is, however, unlikely to solve all problems. 

 

More generally, an exhaustive characterization of living systems may neither be sufficient nor necessary for their understanding and engineering. Instead, a critical challenge for biology is to achieve a proper “coarse-grained”, low-dimensional description of living systems that captures the relative functional significance of their constituents and interactions.

 

We pursue two synergistic approaches in the group:

1. a statistical, data-driven, approach to biology, focusing on developing new quantitative frameworks and algorithms for the analysis of live-imaging and single-cell sequencing data

2. physical modeling of living systems to help parametrize and explore when a data-driven approach isn't warranted or possible


Significant Recognition

  • Simons Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2010 - 2013
  • Derek Bok Undergraduate Teaching Award, Harvard University, 2009
  • Robert L. Wallace Prize Fellowship, Harvard University, 2007 - 2008

Selected Publications

  • Johnson, Eric M.; Kath, William; Mani, Madhav, EMBEDR, Patterns (2022).
  • Gowda, Karna; Ping, Derek; Mani, Madhav; Kuehn, Seppe, Genomic structure predicts metabolite dynamics in microbial communities, Cell (2022).
  • Gallagher, Kevin D.; Mani, Madhav; Carthew, Richard W., Emergence of a geometric pattern of cell fates from tissue-scale mechanics in the Drosophila eye, eLife (2022).
  • Alba, Vasyl; Carthew, James E.; Carthew, Richard W.; Mani, Madhav, Global constraints within the developmental program of the drosophila wing, eLife 10 (2021).
  • Fraebel, David T.; Gowda, Karna; Mani, Madhav; Kuehn, Seppe, Evolution of Generalists by Phenotypic Plasticity, iScience 23(11) (2020).
  • Bakker, Rachael; Mani, Madhav; Carthew, Richard W., The WG and DPP morphogens regulate gene expression by modulating the frequency of transcriptional bursts, eLife 9:1-26 (2020).
  • Giri, Ritika; Papadopoulos, Dimitrios K.; Posadas, Diana M.; Potluri, Hemanth K.; Tomancak, Pavel; Mani, Madhav; Carthew, Richard W., Ordered patterning of the sensory system is susceptible to stochastic features of gene expression, eLife 9 (2020).
  • Shadkhoo, Shahriar; Mani, Madhav, The role of intracellular interactions in the collective polarization of tissues and its interplay with cellular geometry, PLoS computational biology 15(11) (2019).