Stanislav Y. Shvartsman

Associated Faculty, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Contact
stas@princeton.eduResearch Area
Cell Biology, Development & CancerResearch Focus
Dynamics of living tissuesStas Shvartsman was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and studied chemistry and engineering in Russia, Israel, and the US. His lab investigates how genomically encoded and self-organizing processes control development. The main themes of current research are 1) dynamics of signaling networks, 2) small cell clusters, and 3) quantitative biology of developmental abnormalities.
Protein kinases control essentially all cellular functions and are genetically deregulated in human diseases. The Shvartsman lab uses Drosophila as a powerful experimental system for dissecting signaling through the highly conserved ERK cascade. Recent results include new tools for optogenetic control of the ERK-dependent dynamics of single genes and gene networks.
Cell clusters with stable cytoplasmic bridges are thought to have provided one path to the emergence of multicellularity and are essential for the formation of eggs and sperm in present day animals. The Shvartsman lab uses live imaging experiments and dynamical systems theory to investigate the formation and function of germline cell clusters in Drosophila.
Developmental defects are one of the leading causes of childhood mortality and a major factor in the lives of affected individuals and their families. Focusing on abnormalities caused by deregulated RAS signaling, the Shvartsman lab is advancing quantitative biology of developmental disorders, using genome editing and computational modeling approaches in Drosophila.
The Shvartsman lab collaborates with scientists at Princeton and elsewhere and had in the past published on a broad range of topics, including epithelial morphogenesis, morphogen gradients, and metabolic control of development.
-
ERK signaling dissolves ERF repression condensates in living embryos. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 ;119(9). .
-
Mechanics of stabilized intercellular bridges. Biophys J. 2022 ;121(16):3162-3171. .
-
Quantitative models for building and growing fated small cell networks. Interface Focus. 2022 ;12(4):20210082. .
-
Deconstructing gastrulation at single-cell resolution. Curr Biol. 2022 ;32(8):1861-1868.e7. .
-
Dynamics of endoderm specification. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 ;119(15):e2112892119. .
-
Bidirectional communication in oogenesis: a dynamic conversation in mice and Drosophila. Trends Cell Biol. 2022 ;32(4):311-323. .
-
Putting in the Erk: Growth factor signaling and mesoderm morphogenesis. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2022 ;149:263-310. .
-
Size scaling in collective cell growth. Development. 2021 ;148(18). .
-
Collective oscillations of coupled cell cycles. Biophys J. 2021 ;120(19):4242-4251. .
-
Spatial organization of transcribing loci during early genome activation in Drosophila. Curr Biol. 2021 ;31(22):5102-5110.e5. .
-
Coupled oscillators coordinate collective germline growth. Dev Cell. 2021 ;56(6):860-870.e8. .
-
Temporal integration of inductive cues on the way to gastrulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 ;118(23). .
-
Mapping parameter spaces of biological switches. PLoS Comput Biol. 2021 ;17(2):e1008711. .
-
Clonal dominance in excitable cell networks. Nat Phys. 2021 ;17(12):1391-1395. .
-
Capicua is a fast-acting transcriptional brake. Curr Biol. 2021 ;31(16):3639-3647.e5. .
-
Evaluating the Arrhenius equation for developmental processes. Mol Syst Biol. 2021 ;17(8):e9895. .
-
Molecular mechanisms underlying cellular effects of human MEK1 mutations. Mol Biol Cell. 2021 ;32(9):974-983. .
-
Optogenetic Rescue of a Patterning Mutant. Curr Biol. 2020 ;30(17):3414-3424.e3. .
-
Mechanics of a multilayer epithelium instruct tumour architecture and function. Nature. 2020 ;585(7825):433-439. .
-
Publisher Correction: Mechanics of a multilayer epithelium instruct tumour architecture and function. Nature. 2020 ;586(7827):E9. .
-
Excess dNTPs Trigger Oscillatory Surface Flow in the Early Drosophila Embryo. Biophys J. 2020 ;118(10):2349-2353. .
-
Rapid Dynamics of Signal-Dependent Transcriptional Repression by Capicua. Dev Cell. 2020 ;52(6):794-801.e4. .
-
Inference of Multisite Phosphorylation Rate Constants and Their Modulation by Pathogenic Mutations. Curr Biol. 2020 ;30(5):877-882.e6. .
-
Activation-induced substrate engagement in ERK signaling. Mol Biol Cell. 2020 ;31(4):235-243. .
-
Chemical Embryology Redux: Metabolic Control of Development. Trends Genet. 2020 ;36(8):577-586. .
-
Template-based mapping of dynamic motifs in tissue morphogenesis. PLoS Comput Biol. 2020 ;16(8):e1008049. .
-
The design and logic of terminal patterning in Drosophila. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2020 ;137:193-217. .
-
Nuclear (Bio)physics in the Embryo. Cell. 2019 ;177(4):799-801. .
-
Energy budget of Drosophila embryogenesis. Curr Biol. 2019 ;29(12):R566-R567. .
-
Functional divergence caused by mutations in an energetic hotspot in ERK2. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 ;116(31):15514-15523. .
-
Optimizing photoswitchable MEK. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 ;116(51):25756-25763. .
-
Self-Similar Dynamics of Nuclear Packing in the Early Drosophila Embryo. Biophys J. 2019 ;117(4):743-750. .
-
A quantitative model of developmental RTK signaling. Dev Biol. 2018 ;442(1):80-86. .
-
Entropic effects in cell lineage tree packings. Nat Phys. 2018 ;14(10):1016-1021. .
-
Outstanding questions in developmental ERK signaling. Development. 2018 ;145(14). .
-
Spherical Caps in Cell Polarization. Biophys J. 2018 ;115(1):26-30. .
-
Collective Growth in a Small Cell Network. Curr Biol. 2017 ;27(17):2670-2676.e4. .
-
Synthesizing developmental trajectories. PLoS Comput Biol. 2017 ;13(9):e1005742. .
-
Mechanisms and causality in molecular diseases. Hist Philos Life Sci. 2017 ;39(4):35. .
-
How activating mutations affect MEK1 regulation and function. J Biol Chem. 2017 ;292(46):18814-18820. .
-
Epithelial Patterning, Morphogenesis, and Evolution: Drosophila Eggshell as a Model. Dev Cell. 2017 ;41(4):337-348. .
-
Complex structures from patterned cell sheets. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2017 ;372(1720). .
-
A process engineering approach to increase organoid yield. Development. 2017 ;144(6):1128-1136. .
-
Divergent effects of intrinsically active MEK variants on developmental Ras signaling. Nat Genet. 2017 ;49(3):465-469. .
-
Gene regulation during eggshell patterning. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 ;114(23):5808-5813. .
-
Parallel imaging of embryos for quantitative analysis of genetic perturbations of the Ras pathway. Dis Model Mech. 2017 ;10(7):923-929. .
-
The Spatiotemporal Limits of Developmental Erk Signaling. Dev Cell. 2017 ;40(2):185-192. .
-
In vivo severity ranking of Ras pathway mutations associated with developmental disorders. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 ;114(3):510-515. .
-
A novel function for the IκB inhibitor Cactus in promoting Dorsal nuclear localization and activity in the embryo. Development. 2017 ;144(16):2907-2913. .
-
The Design Space of the Embryonic Cell Cycle Oscillator. Biophys J. 2017 ;113(3):743-752. .
-
Dynamic Control of dNTP Synthesis in Early Embryos. Dev Cell. 2017 ;42(3):301-308.e3. .
-
Uncoupling neurogenic gene networks in the embryo. Genes Dev. 2017 ;31(7):634-638. .
-
Reconstructing ERK Signaling in the Drosophila Embryo from Fixed Images. Methods Mol Biol. 2017 ;1487:337-351. .
-
Minibrain and Wings apart control organ growth and tissue patterning through down-regulation of Capicua. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 ;113(38):10583-8. .
-
Diffusive flux in a model of stochastically gated oxygen transport in insect respiration. J Chem Phys. 2016 ;144(20):204101. .
-
Long-term dynamics of multisite phosphorylation. Mol Biol Cell. 2016 ;27(14):2331-40. .
-
Microfluidics for High-Throughput Quantitative Studies of Early Development. Annu Rev Biomed Eng. 2016 ;18:285-309. .
-
Shape Transformations of Epithelial Shells. Biophys J. 2016 ;110(7):1670-1678. .
-
Dynamics of Inductive ERK Signaling in the Drosophila Embryo. Curr Biol. 2015 ;25(13):1784-90. .
-
Diversity of epithelial morphogenesis during eggshell formation in drosophilids. Development. 2015 ;142(11):1971-7. .
-
Mapping the binding interface of ERK and transcriptional repressor Capicua using photocrosslinking. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 ;112(28):8590-5. .
-
From discrete to continuum models of three-dimensional deformations in epithelial sheets. Biophys J. 2015 ;109(1):154-63. .
-
A Systematic Ensemble Approach to Thermodynamic Modeling of Gene Expression from Sequence Data. Cell Syst. 2015 ;1(6):396-407. .
-
Structural Basis of Neurohormone Perception by the Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Torso. Mol Cell. 2015 ;60(6):941-52. .
-
A Transport Model for Estimating the Time Course of ERK Activation in the C. elegans Germline. Biophys J. 2015 ;109(11):2436-45. .
-
Dynamics of gradient formation by intracellular shuttling. J Chem Phys. 2015 ;143(7):074116. .
-
RASopathies: unraveling mechanisms with animal models. Dis Model Mech. 2015 ;8(8):769-82. .