Herbert Levine

About

Herbert Levine is a University Distinguished Professor of Physics and Bioengineering at Northeastern University College of Engineering. His research focuses on physical modeling of cancer progression, metastasis, and interaction with the immune system, with recent interests including the role of metabolic plasticity in these processes and the co-evolution of tumors and the adaptive immune system. His work also encompasses the spatial organization of the actin cytoskeleton, the mechanics of collective cell motility, and the analysis of genetic circuits involved in cell fate decisions. Levine holds a PhD in Physics from Princeton University, earned in 1979, and a BS in Physics from MIT, obtained in 1976. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. His contributions to science include developing quantitative models of eukaryotic cell motility, studying regulation of cellular stemness during epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and investigating the cancer-immune interaction. Levine has been recognized as one of the top cited scientists worldwide and has led multiple research projects and international collaborations in the fields of mechanobiology, cancer, and living systems.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Computational biology
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Cell biology
• Condensed matter physics
• Evolutionary biology
• Physics
• Composite material

Selected publications

• Guidelines and definitions for research on epithelial–mesenchymal transition

  Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · 2020 · 2267 citations

  Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) encompasses dynamic changes in cellular organization from epithelial to mesenchymal phenotypes, which leads to functional changes in cell migration and invasion. EMT occurs in a diverse range of physiological and pathological conditions and is driven by a conserved set of inducing signals, transcriptional regulators and downstream effectors. With over 5,700 publications indexed by Web of Science in 2019 alone, research on EMT is expanding rapidly. This gro…

  DOI

• Identification of EMT signaling cross-talk and gene regulatory networks by single-cell RNA sequencing

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 268 citations

  The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a critical role during normal development and in cancer progression. EMT is induced by various signaling pathways, including TGF-β, BMP, Wnt-β-catenin, NOTCH, Shh, and receptor tyrosine kinases. In this study, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on MCF10A cells undergoing EMT by TGF-β1 stimulation. Our comprehensive analysis revealed that cells progress through EMT at different paces. Using pseudotime clustering reconstruction of gene-expr…

  DOI

• Compression stiffening of fibrous networks with stiff inclusions

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 61 citations

  Tissues commonly consist of cells embedded within a fibrous biopolymer network. Whereas cell-free reconstituted biopolymer networks typically soften under applied uniaxial compression, various tissues, including liver, brain, and fat, have been observed to instead stiffen when compressed. The mechanism for this compression-stiffening effect is not yet clear. Here, we demonstrate that when a material composed of stiff inclusions embedded in a fibrous network is compressed, heterogeneous rearrange…

  DOI

• Decoding the mechanisms underlying cell-fate decision-making during stem cell differentiation by random circuit perturbation

  Journal of The Royal Society Interface · 2020 · 37 citations

  rturbation (RACIPE), to a nine-component gene regulatory network (GRN) governing stemness, from which we identified robust gene states. Among them, four out of the five most probable gene states exhibit gene expression patterns observed in single mouse embryonic cells at 32-cell and 64-cell stages. These gene states can be robustly predicted by the stemness GRN but not by randomized versions of the stemness GRN. Strikingly, we found a hierarchical structure of the GRN with the Oct4/Cdx2 motif fu…

  DOI

• Reconstruction of single-cell lineage trajectories and identification of diversity in fates during the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-08-02 · 19 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Exploring the complexity of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) unveils a diversity of potential cell fates; however, the exact timing and mechanisms by which early cell states diverge into distinct EMT trajectories remain unclear. Studying these EMT trajectories through single-cell RNA sequencing is challenging due to the necessity of sacrificing cells for each measurement. In this study, we employed optimal-transport analysis to reconstruct the past trajectories of different cell fa…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Toward an integrative understanding of mammalian cell motility

  NSF · $712k · 2011–2013

• Spatial Patterning in the Progressing Tumor - The Role of Notch

  NSF · $753k · 2019–2023

• Physical and Mathematical Principles of Brain Structure and Function - Spring 2013 in Arlington, VA

  NSF · $183k · 2013–2014

Frequent coauthors

• Mohit Kumar Jolly

  Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

  541 shared

• Jason T. George

  Texas A&M University

  410 shared

• José N. Onuchic

  Rice University

  313 shared

• Dongya Jia

  263 shared

• Eshel Ben‐Jacob

  178 shared

• David A. Kessler

  University of Bristol

  160 shared

• Wouter‐Jan Rappel

  University of California, San Diego

  158 shared

• Shubham Tripathi

  Yale University

  150 shared

Awards & honors

• Member, National Academy of Sciences
• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, September 19…
• Fellow, American Physical Society

Similar researchers at Northeastern University

• Raimond Winslowh-72
• Neel Joshih-60
• Deniz Erdogmush-58