Rate My Professor James Ferrell

The Ferrell lab focuses on two primary goals: understanding the regulation of mitosis and elucidating the systems-level logic of simple signaling circuits. They employ Xenopus laevis oocytes, eggs, and cell-free extracts, alongside single-cell fluorescence imaging in mammalian cell lines. Research integrates quantitative experimental approaches with computational and theoretical modeling to uncover design principles of biochemical switches, timers, and oscillators, particularly those controlling the cell cycle. Key contributions appear in highly cited publications such as 'STIM is a Ca2+ sensor essential for Ca2+-store-depletion-triggered Ca2+ influx' (Current Biology, 2005), 'Mechanisms of specificity in protein phosphorylation' (Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2007), 'Ultrasensitivity in the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1996), 'Self-perpetuating states in signal transduction: positive feedback, double-negative feedback and bistability' (Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 2002), and 'Building a cell cycle oscillator: hysteresis and bistability in the activation of Cdc2' (Nature Cell Biology, 2003). These works have advanced systems biology by demonstrating mechanisms like ultrasensitivity, bistability, and robust oscillations in cellular decision-making.