Researcher Profile
Marc Vidal, PhD
Associate Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
Contact Information
Marc Vidal, PhDDana-Farber Cancer Institute
44 Binney Street
Smith 858
Boston, MA 02115
Office phone: (617) 632-5180
Fax: (617) 632-5739
E-mail: marc_vidal@dfci.harvard.edu
Preferred contact method: e-mail
Research
For over half a century, it has been conjectured that macromolecules form complex cellular networks of functionally interacting components, and that the molecular mechanisms underlying most biological processes correspond to particular steady states adopted by such networks. However, until recently, systems-level theoretical conjectures remained largely unappreciated, mainly because of lack of supporting experimental data.
To generate the informational scaffold necessary to eventually address how steady states of complex cellular systems relate to biology, we initiated, at the scale of the whole proteome, an integrated approach for modeling protein-protein interaction or "interactome" networks. Our main questions are the following: How are interactome networks organized in the whole intact cell? Are there global and local principles that organize such complex networks of interactions, and how are such organizational principles perturbed in human disease?
Our laboratory uses a model organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, to study the role of interactome networks in development. In doing so, we are developing some of the concepts and technologies needed for a transition to systems biology. Our goals are to: (1) generate an interactome map for C. elegans; (2) develop new concepts to integrate interactome maps with other functional maps such as expression profiles (transcriptome), global phenotypic analysis (phenome), and localization of expression projects (localizome); and
(3) use such integrated information to discover novel network properties.
We hope that the biological information learned using C. elegans and the concepts and technologies developed in the context of this model organism will expand the understanding of cancer.
To learn more about the Vidal Lab or the Center for Cancer Systems Biology, please visit http://ccsb.dfci.harvard.edu/.
Recent Awards
- Chaire Francqui, Fondation Francqui, Belgium, 2005
- Abbott Bioresearch Award, Boston, MA, 2003
- Chercheur Qualifié du Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (Belgium), Permanent Position, 1997
Biography
Dr. Vidal received his PhD in 1991 from Gembloux University (Belgium) for work performed at Northwestern University. He identified the yeast genes SIN3 and RPD3, and demonstrated that they encode global transcriptional regulators. During postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, he developed the reverse two-hybrid system to genetically characterize protein-protein interactions. In 2000, he joined DFCI, where his research focuses on understanding global and local properties of interactome networks.
Select Publications
- Gunsalus KC, Ge H, Schetter AJ, Goldberg DS, Han JD, Hao T, Bertin N, Li N, Huang J, Chuang LS, Mani R, Berriz G, Hyman AA, Sonnichsen B, Echeverri CJ, Roth FP, Vidal M, Piano F. Predictive models of molecular machines involved in Caenorhabditis elegans early embryogenesis. Nature 2005;436:861-5.
- Han JD, Dupuy D, Bertin N, Cusick ME, Vidal M. Effect of sampling on topology predictions of protein-protein interaction networks. Nat Biotechnol 2005;23;839-44.
- Dupuy D, Li QR, Deplancke B, Boxem M, Hao T, Lamesch P, Sequerra R, Bosak S, Doucette-Stamm L, Hope IA, Hill DE, Walhout AJ, Vidal M. A first version of the Caenorhabditis elegans Promoterome. Genome Res 2004;14:2169-75.
- Han JD, Bertin N, Hao T, Goldberg DS, Berriz GF, Zhang LV, Dupuy D, Walhout AJ, Cusick ME, Roth FP, Vidal M. Evidence for dynamically organized modularity in the yeast protein-protein interaction network. Nature 2004;430:88-93.
- Lamesch P, Milstein S, Hao T, Rosenberg J, Li N, Sequerra R, Bosak S, Doucette-Stamm L, Vandenhaute J, Hill DE, Vidal M. C. elegans ORFeome version 3.1: increasing the coverage of ORFeome resources with improved gene predictions. Genome Res 2004;14:2064-9.
- Li S, Armstrong CM, Bertin N, Ge H, Milstein S, Boxem M, Vidalain PO, Han JD, Chesneau A, Hao T, Goldberg DS, Li N, Martinez M, Rual JF, Lamesch P, Xu L, Tewari M, Wong SL, Zhang LV, Berriz GF, Jacotot L, Vaglio P, Reboul J, Hirozane-Kishikawa T, Li Q, Gabel HW, Elewa A, Baumgartner B, Rose DJ, Yu H, Bosak S, Sequerra R, Fraser A, Mango SE, Saxton WM, Strome S, Van Den Heuvel S, Piano F, Vandenhaute J, Sardet C, Gerstein M, Doucette-Stamm L, Gunsalus KC, Harper JW, Cusick ME, Roth FP, Hill DE, Vidal M. A map of the interactome network of the metazoan C. elegans. Science 2004;303:540-3.
- Rual JF, Ceron J, Koreth J, Hao T, Nicot AS, Hirozane-Kishikawa T, Vandenhaute J, Orkin SH, Hill DE, van den Heuvel S, Vidal M. Toward improving Caenorhabditis elegans phenome mapping with an ORFeome-based RNAi library. Genome Res 2004;14:2162-8.
- Rual JF, Hirozane-Kishikawa T, Hao T, Bertin N, Li S, Dricot A, Li N, Rosenberg J, Lamesch P, Vidalain PO, Clingingsmith TR, Hartley JL, Esposito D, Cheo D, Moore T, Simmons B, Sequerra R, Bosak S, Doucette-Stamm L, Le Peuch C, Vandenhaute J, Cusick ME, Albala JS, Hill DE, Vidal M. Human ORFeome version 1.1: a platform for reverse proteomics. Genome Res 2004;14:2128-35.
- Tewari M, Hu PJ, Ahn JS, Ayivi-Guedehoussou N, Vidalain PO, Li S, Milstein S, Armstrong CM, Boxem M, Butler MD, Busiguina S, Rual JF, Ibarrola N, Chaklos ST, Bertin N, Vaglio P, Edgley ML, King KV, Albert PS, Vandenhaute J, Pandey A, Riddle DL, Ruvkun G, Vidal M. Systematic interactome mapping and genetic perturbation analysis of a C. elegans TGF-beta signaling network. Mol Cell 2004;13:469-82.
- Reboul J, Vaglio P, Rual JF, Lamesch P, Martinez M, Armstrong CM, Li S, Jacotot L, Bertin N, Janky R, Moore T, Hudson JR, Hartley JL, Brasch MA, Vandenhaute J, Boulton S, Endress GA, Jenna S, Chevet E, Papasotiropoulos V, Tolias PP, Ptacek J, Snyder M, Huang R, Chance MR, Lee H, Doucette-Stamm L, Hill DE, Vidal M. C. elegans ORFeome version 1.1: experimental verification of the genome annotation and resource for proteome-scale protein expression. Nat Genet 2003;34:35-41.
