Charles DeLisi, Ph.D.

Metcalf Professor, Science and Engineering
Dean Emeritus, College of Engineering

Biomolecular Systems Laboratory

Ph.D., Physics, New York University
B.A., Physics, City College of New York

Phone: (617) 353-1122
Fax: (617) 353-4814
Email: delisi@bu.edu
Office: LSEB 908D

Research Interests

The Bimolecular Systems Laboratory develops and applies computational/mathematical methods, and high throughput experimental methods, to analyze changes in gene and protein expression profiles of cells in response to various endogenous and exogenous signals. In collaboration with the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation, and the Departments of Chemistry and Physics, we are developing and applying new DNA and peptide microarray technologies for fingerprinting the complete molecular state of a cell. Examples include the response to ligands (drugs, toxins, hormones etc), and changes that occur as normal cells mature, differentiate, progress toward disease. The long range goal is to relate expression patterns to pathways, pathways to networks and networks to function.

Current Research

Development and application of experimental and computational methods for high throughput genomic and proteomic analysis. Computational methods for determining protein function and the topology of information processing networks Biological applications range from fundamental ( e.g. understanding how specific signals are detected, transduced, amplified, processed and stored) to applied; especially to cancer and immune reactions.

Selected Recent Publications

Bergstein D, Irani R, Ruane MF, DeLisi C, Ünlü MS “Resonant Cavity Imaging Biosensor” Proceedings of IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society 2005 Annual Meeting 22-27 October: (2005)

Weng, Z., DeLisi, C. “Protein Therapeutics: promises and challenges for the 21st century” Trends in Biotechnology 20: 29-35 (2002)

Joseph C. Mellor, Itai Yanai, Karl H. Clodfelter, Julian Mintseris, Charles DeLisi “Predictome: A database of putative functional links between proteins” Nucleic Acids Res. 30(1): 306-9 (2002)

Itai Yanai, Joseph C. Mellor, Charles DeLisi “Identifying functional associations by linking genes through conserved chromosomal proximity” Trends in Genetics v18: 176-179 (2002)

C. Zhang , C. DeLisi “Protein Folds: Molecular Systematics in Three Dimensions” J Cell and Molecular Life Science 58: 72-79 (2001)

Yanai, I., Derti, A., DeLisi, C. “Genes linked by fusion events are generally of the same functional category: A systematic analysis of 30 microbial genomes” PNAS 98: 7940-7945 (2001)