Leor Weinberger
Systems Biology, Virology, Single-Cell Imaging, and Computational Modeling

Contact Information
Adjunct Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Member, Whitaker Center for Biomedical Engineering
Particiapting Member, Moores Cancer Center

Office: Urey Hall Addn 2040D
Phone: 858-534-0212
Email: lsw@ucsd.edu
Web: www.gladstone.ucsf.edu/gladstone/site/weinberger/
Education
2004 Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
1998 BSc., University of Maryland, College Park
Appointments
2007 Postdoc, Princeton University
1999 , Los Alamos National Laboratory
Awards and Academic Honors
2011
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow
2009
W.M. Keck Foundation Research Excellence Award
2009
NIH DIrector's New Innovator Award
2009
California HIV/AIDS Young Investigator Innovative Development Award
2009
Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges in Global Health Explorations Award
2008
Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences
2006-2007
Lewis Thomas Fellow, Princeton University
1999-2004
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Pre-doctoral Fellow
1999
UC Berkeley Chancellor's Opportunity Fellow
1999
Eva Cota Robles Fellow, UC Berkeley
1998
Karyn Kupcinet Int'l Science Student, Weizmann Institute of Science
Research Interests
We use a coupled computational-experimental approach, that relies on quantitative time-lapse fluorescence microscopy coupled with mathematical modeling to study viral gene expression circuits and expression 'noise' at the single-cell level. Specifically, we study the regulatory 'master circuits' controlling the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and human herpesviruses. Such gene-regulatory circuits play an important role in regulating cell-fate decisions. The gene-regulatory circuits of viruses present a simplified and powerful system to study fundamental principles of gene regulation (e.g. HIV provided the first demonstration of a mammalian expression circuit that exploits stochastic noise in gene-expression to control a cell-fate decision)

The lab also aims to develop novel therapy approaches that exploit viral gene expression.

In general, we strive to develop the quantitative, analytical, and experimental imaging tools to construct gene circuit models and usher in a new era of quantitative understanding of biology and medical treatment.

Primary Research Area
Biochemistry
Interdisciplinary interests
Computational and Theoretical
Cellular Biochemistry
Biophysics

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Selected Publications