# Cellular Decision Making

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2022 · $916,953

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
My lab seeks to define the molecular logic of complex cell behaviors— how cells go from sets of interacting
molecules to the emergent properties of living systems. We currently focus on three questions: how
neutrophils control their shape and movement, how lymphocytes detect rare foreign peptides in a sea of self-
peptides, and how mouse embryonic stem cells regulate transcriptional activation. Studying a diversity of cell
types and behaviors makes it easier to identify the general principles of cellular decision-making beyond the
particulars of a given system. And it opens up more interfaces for cross pollination between different projects
in the lab. Transformative science often happens at interfaces, so we seek to borrow tools and concepts from
other fields to address open questions in cell biology and frequently develop new tools when they are needed
to accelerate progress. For instance, optogenetics enables us to plug into defined signaling nodes and test the
logic of subcircuits in a manner that circumvents the feedback, redundancy, and compensation that confound
investigation with standard approaches. Our most common strategy is to pair biosensors for visualizing the
quantitative dynamics of these processes in living cells with precision tools to control the regulators of these
behaviors. For cell migration, we are breaking down the complex process of directed movement into its
fundamental pieces—how a cell decides to initiate a protrusion, how the shape of the protrusion is specified,
how the protrusions compete with one another to enable cell polarity, and how this process is biased by
external gradients. For T cell activation, we are investigating how cells convert small differences in antigen
binding to large changes in cell activation by leveraging a light-responsive T cell antigen. Finally, we are
investigating the logic of transcriptional activation—in particular how enhancers activate promoters and how
transcription factor dynamics specifies the pattern of gene activation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10414972
- **Project number:** 5R35GM118167-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Orion D Weiner
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $916,953
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-06-01 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10414972

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10414972, Cellular Decision Making (5R35GM118167-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10414972. Licensed CC0.

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