BMB Welcomes Dr. Lu Bai
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Dr. Lucy Bai
The BMB Department extends a warm welcome to Dr. Lu (Lucy) Bai. Dr. Bai joined the Department in January 2012. She is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and an Assistant Professor of Physics. Dr. Bai is getting settled into a lab in Life Sciences Building while she awaits completion of her new lab in South Frear.
Originally from Nanjing, China, Dr. Bai received her bachelor's degree at Nanjing University and her Master's and Ph.D. from Cornell University while working in Dr. Michelle Wang's group. Before joining the BMB Department, she worked as a post-doctoral fellow in Frederick Cross and Eric Siggia's groups at Rockefeller University in New York.
Dr. Bai's main research interests center on single cell /single molecule study of chromatin and gene regulation.
Dr. Bai is fascinated with the problem of heterogeneity and dynamics in chromatin and gene expression among genetically homogeneous cell population. In each individual cell, there are usually only 1 to 2 copies of DNA, 1 to a few copies of genes, and in many cases, less than 10 copies of transcribed mRNAs. Such small numbers are subject to large stochastic fluctuation. How do cells suppress unwanted gene expression variability to faithfully carry out its biological processes? On the other hand, can cells take advantage of random fluctuations to generate different phenotypes? What are the mechanisms for regulation of gene expression variability? In eukaryotic species, gene regulation is strongly affected by chromatin. Is the chromatin organization the same in every single cell? Is it subject to dynamic changes? How does it contribute to gene expression variability? Most of the current biochemical assays are based on averaging over thousands to millions of cells, therefore unsuitable for addressing these questions.
Using advanced single cell time-lapse fluorescence microscopy and single molecule techniques, Dr. Bai tries to identify DNA sequence and chromatin features that affect level, noise, and dynamics of gene expression; to understand how these chromatin features are established and characterize their cell-to-cell variability and dynamic change; and finally, to explore how these molecular processes affect cell phenotype.Please stop by the Life Sciences Building to welcome Dr. Bai and her lab members as they join our Department's investigative efforts.
