Paul Wiggins

Fellow, Whitehead Institute 617.324.2342 phone wiggins@wi.mit.edu

Whitehead Fellow Paul Wiggins came to biology via physics. Although he began his academic career studying string theory (a cornerstone of modern physics), Wiggins decided in graduate school to switch his focus from the cosmos to the elegant universe of the cell. He paints a stunning portrait of this realm—where proteins zip along microtubule highways and biological motors harness energy from their surroundings—in this 43-minute presentation. [ 220 kbps QuickTime 56 kbps ]

According to Wiggins, the human genome is really no more than a parts list. But having a comprehensive list of the genes is just the start! By combining standard biological and biochemical approaches with the experimental and theoretical tool kit of physics, Wiggins is building quantitative models of biological processes and phenomena.

His work currently focuses on both explaining the physical structure of chromosomes in the cell and how the structure of chromatin (the complex of DNA and protein that makes up chromosomes) affects gene expression. To encapsulate the human genome inside the nucleus, the cell tightly condenses its two meters of DNA into a package just tens of microns across. But the protein machines that accomplish this dramatic condensation are also intimately involved in the processes that control the expression of genes. Recent studies have revealed that the genetic positioning of nucleosomes can be predicted, with surprising accuracy, by a few simple rules. The Wiggins lab is currently investigating the consequences of these rules on the regulation and physical structure of the genome.

Before coming to Whitehead, Wiggins and his colleagues at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania proposed that the forces required to bend DNA may have been overestimated for decades. They demonstrated that many of the classic DNA mechanics experiments are not nearly as informative as scientists had assumed. This is significant because DNA bending occurs constantly in cells (DNA is typically bent every time a gene makes RNA). Only recently have these and other experiments begun to explore DNA bending in a way that is relevant for describing cellular functions.

Wiggins received his PhD in 2005 from the California Institute of Technology, where he worked in the lab of Rob Phillips. His thesis topic was the statistical mechanics of biomolecules.

Selected Publications

P. Wiggins & P. Nelson. A generalized theory of semiflexible polymers. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. Mar;73(3 Pt 1):031906 (2006).

P. Wiggins & R. Phillips. Membrane-protein interactions in mechanosensitive channels. Biophys. J. 88 (2): 880-902 (2005).

P. Wiggins, R. Phillips & P. Nelson. Exact theory of kinkable elastic polymers. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. Feb;71(2 Pt 1):021909 (2005).

P. Wiggins & R. Phillips. Analytic models for mechanotransduction: Gating a mechanosensitive channel. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 101: 4071-4076 (2004).

P. Wiggins & D. Lai. Tidal Interactions Between a Fluid Star and a Kerr Black Hole in Circular Orbit. Astrophys. J. 532:530 (2000).

R.Q. Erkamp, P. Wiggins, A.R. Skovoroda, S.Y. Emelianov, & M. O'Donnell. Measuring the Elastic Modulus of Small Tissue Samples. Ultrasonic Imaging, 20:17-28 (1998).

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