Faculty DirectoryMadhav Mani

Associate Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
Contact
2145 Sheridan RoadTech
Evanston, IL 60208-3109
Email Madhav Mani
Website
Departments
Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
Affiliations
PhD Program in Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences
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).