Eric F. Wieschaus

About

Eric F. Wieschaus is a Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is affiliated with the Center for the Physics of Biological Function, an NSF Physics Frontier Center. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying biological functions, contributing to the understanding of life sciences through his role in the Princeton biophysics and molecular biology communities.

Research topics

• Biology
• Cell biology
• Genetics
• Mathematics
• Physical chemistry
• Chemistry
• Neuroscience
• Geometry
• Statistical physics
• Thermodynamics

Selected publications

• Evaluating the Arrhenius equation for developmental processes

  Molecular Systems Biology · 2021 · 135 citations

  The famous Arrhenius equation is well suited to describing the temperature dependence of chemical reactions but has also been used for complicated biological processes. Here, we evaluate how well the simple Arrhenius equation predicts complex multi-step biological processes, using frog and fruit fly embryogenesis as two canonical models. We find that the Arrhenius equation provides a good approximation for the temperature dependence of embryogenesis, even though individual developmental interval…

  PublisherDOI

• Rapid Dynamics of Signal-Dependent Transcriptional Repression by Capicua

  Developmental Cell · 2020 · 55 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Optogenetic control of the Bicoid morphogen reveals fast and slow modes of gap gene regulation

  Cell Reports · 2022 · 47 citations

  Developmental patterning networks are regulated by multiple inputs and feedback connections that rapidly reshape gene expression, limiting the information that can be gained solely from slow genetic perturbations. Here we show that fast optogenetic stimuli, real-time transcriptional reporters, and a simplified genetic background can be combined to reveal the kinetics of gene expression downstream of a developmental transcription factor in vivo. We engineer light-controlled versions of the Bicoid…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Deconstructing gastrulation at single-cell resolution

  Current Biology · 2022-03-14 · 32 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The geometric basis of epithelial convergent extension

  eLife · 2024-03-26 · 22 citations

  articleOpen access

  Shape changes of epithelia during animal development, such as convergent extension, are achieved through the concerted mechanical activity of individual cells. While much is known about the corresponding large-scale tissue flow and its genetic drivers, fundamental questions regarding local control of contractile activity on the cellular scale and its embryo-scale coordination remain open. To address these questions, we develop a quantitative, model-based analysis framework to relate cell geometr…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Oogenesis and Early Embryogenesis in Drosophila

  NIH · $3.8M · 1981–2016

• NIH Grant R01HD015587

  NIH · $1.4M · 2006

• NIH Grant P01CA041086

  NIH · $19.3M · 2007

Frequent coauthors

• Thomas Gregor

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  74 shared

• William Bialek

  Princeton University

  43 shared

• Stefano Di Talia

  Duke Medical Center

  28 shared

• Shelby A. Blythe

  Northwestern University

  27 shared

• Stanislav Y. Shvartsman

  Simons Foundation

  26 shared

• Matthias Kaschube

  Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies

  23 shared

• David W. Tank

  Princeton University

  22 shared

• O. Grimm

  Goethe University Frankfurt

  16 shared

Similar researchers at Princeton University

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• David W. Tankh-85
• Ned S. Wingreenh-84