Timothy C. Elston
Associate Professor

Applied Mathematics Program
Department of Mathematics
Unniversity of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3205.
 

telston@amath.unc.edu

Tel: (919) 962-8655
Fax: (919) 962-9345
 

Ph.D. in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, 1993.

Research Interests


My research interests include motor proteins and transcriptional regulation. The work on motor proteins focuses on understanding the mechanisms used by these molecules to convert free energy, which is stored in chemical bonds or ion gradients, into mechanical work. Gene networks are inherently noisy, and stochastic effects can play a significant role in their dynamics. I am interested in constructing realistic models of these regulatory systems that take into account intrinsic noise.
 

Teaching


Math 31
 

Applied Math Seminar


Schedule
 

Recent Publications

  1. Elston,  T.  and C. Peskin. 2000. The role of protein flexibility in molecular motor function:  coupled diffusion in a tilted periodic potential. SIAM 60,842-867. (PDF version)
  2. Elston, T., D. You and C. Peskin.  2000. Protein flexibility and the correlation ratchet. SIAM 61, 776-791. (PDF version)
  3. Elston, T.  2000. A macroscopic description of biomolecular transport. J. Math. Biol.  41, 189-206 . (PDF version) 
  4. Elston, T.  2000. Models of posttranslational protein translocation. Biophys. J.  79, 2235-2251. (PDF version) 
  5. Elston, T. and T. Kepler.  2001. A Linear Two-State Model with Complex Dynamics. PLA.  280:204-208. (PDF version) 
  6. Mogilner, A. T. Elston, H. Wang, and G. Oster.  2002.  Molecular motors: theory. In Computational Cell Biology,  C. Fall, E. Marland, J. Tyson, and J. Wagner, Eds. (Springer, NY). (PDF version)
  7. Mogilner, A. T. Elston, H. Wang, and G. Oster.  2002.  Molecular motors: examples. In  Computational Cell Biology, C. Fall, E. Marland, J. Tyson and J. Wagner, Eds. (Springer, NY). (PDF version)
  8. Kepler, T and T. Elston. 2001. Stochasticity in transcriptional regulation: origins, consequences, and mathematical representations. Biophys. J. 81: 3116-3136  (PDF version)
  9. Elston, T. 2002. The Brownian ratchet and power stroke models for post-translational protein translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum. Biophys. J.  82:1239-1253. (PDF version) 
  10. Wang, H. C. Peskin, and T. Elston. 2003. A robust numerical algorithm for studying biomolecular transport processes. J. Theor. Biol. 221:491-511. (PDF version)  (m-files)
  11. Morgan, K., W. Casey, M. Easton, D. Creech, H. Ni, L. Yoon, S. Anderson, C. Qualls, L. Crosby,  P. Bloomfield, A. MacPherson, and T. Elston. 2003. Frequent sampling reveals dynamic responses by the transcriptome to routine media replacement in HepG2 cells.Tox. Path. 31:448-461.
  12. Pirone, J. and T. Elston. 2004. Fluctuations in transcription factor binding can explain the graded and binary responses observed in inducible gene expression. J. Theor. Biol. 226:111-121.  (PDF version).
  13. Hao, N., Yildirim, N.  Wang, Y.,  Elston, T.C.,  and Dohlman, H. G. 2003. Regulators of G protein signaling and transient activation of signaling: Experimental and computation analysis reveals negative and positive feedback controls on G protein activity. J. Biol. Chem.278:46506-646515. (PDF version)
  14. Adalsteinsson, D., D. McMillen, and T. C. 2004. Biochemical Network Stochastic Simulator (BioNetS): software for stochastic modeling of biochemical networks. BMC Bioinformatics (in press).
  15. Yildirim, N, N. Hao, H. Dohlman, and T.C. Elston. 2004. Mathematical Modeling of RGS and G Protein Regulation in Yeast. Meth. in Enzym. (in press).
  16. Goedecke, M., and T.C. Elston. 2004. A mechanism for the oscillatory behavior of single dynein molecules. Submitted to J. Theor. Biol.