Gheorghe Craciun

Assistant Professor
(also Mathematics)

560 Medical Sciences Center
1300 University Avenue
Madison WI 53706-1532

Fax: (608) 262-5253

Office - BMC: (608) 265-4818
Office - Math: (608) 265-3391

craciun@wisc.edu

Education

B.S. 1994, University of Bucharest, Romania;
Ph.D. 2002, Ohio State University;
Postdoctoral 2002-05, Ohio State University.

Honors & Awards

Sigma Xi Certificate of Distinction for Outstanding Research Scholarship, 2001
NSF Mathematical Biosciences Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2002
1st prize, Biocomplexity VII Conference, 2005

Research Interests

Normal cell function is based in large part on the operation of modules consisting of complex networks of biochemical reactions. I am interested in mathematical and computational methods for understanding dynamical properties of biochemical networks, such as gene regulatory networks, signaling pathways, and metabolic networks. For example, I am working on designing algorithms that allow us to relate the topological structure of a biochemical network and its dynamical properties, such as its capacity to exhibit bistability and oscillations, or its sensitivity to noise and other stochastic properties.

In particular, I am considering mathematical and computational models of: cell division and apoptosis, intracellular transport using motor proteins, electrical signals that allow for intercellular communication, and the action of regulatory molecules that are present at very low levels per cell. I am also working on designing algorithms for de novo sequencing of peptides using mass spectrometry data.

Publications of Note

Gheorghe Craciun, Yangzhong Tang and Martin Feinberg (2006).

Understanding Bistability in Complex Enzyme-Driven Reaction

Networks, PNAS 103:23, 8697-8702.

Gheorghe Craciun, Avner Friedman (2006). Approximate Traveling Waves

in Linear Reaction-Hyperbolic Equations, SIAM Journal on

Mathematical Analysis 38:3, 741-758.

Gheorghe Craciun, Martin Feinberg (2006). Multiple Equilibria in

Complex Chemical Reaction Networks: Extensions to Entrapped Species

Models, IEE Proceedings Systems Biology 153:4, 179-186.

Gheorghe Craciun, Martin Feinberg (2006). Multiple Equilibria in

Complex Chemical Reaction Networks: II. The Species-Reactions Graph,

SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics 66:4, 1321-1338.

Gheorghe Craciun, Martin Feinberg (2005). Multiple Equilibria in

Complex Chemical Reaction Networks: I. The Injectivity Property, SIAM

Journal on Applied Mathematics 65:5, 1526-1546.

Baltazar Aguda, Gheorghe Craciun, Rengul Cetin-Atalay (2005). Data

Sources and Computational Approaches for Generating Models of Gene

Regulatory Networks, Reviews in Computational Chemistry, Vol. 21, pp.

381-411, edited by Kenny Lipkowitz, Raima Larter, and Thomas R. Cundari.

Gheorghe Craciun, Baltazar Aguda and Avner Friedman (2005).

Mathematical Analysis of a Modular Network Coordinating the Cell

Cycle and Apoptosis, Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2:3,

473-485.

Gheorghe Craciun, Anthony Brown and Avner Friedman (2005). A

Dynamical System Model of Neurofilament Transport in Axons. Journal

of Theoretical Biology, 237, 316-322.

Avner Friedman, Gheorghe Craciun (2005). A Model of Intracellular

Transport of Particles in an Axon, Journal of Mathematical Biology,

51:2, 217-246.

Jonathan Bell, Gheorghe Craciun (2005). A Distributed Parameter

Identification Problem in Neuronal Cable Theory Models, Mathematical

Biosciences, 194:1, 1-19.

Jeffrey Clogston, Gheorghe Craciun, David Hart and Martin Caffrey

(2005). Controlling Release from the Lipidic Cubic Phase by Selective

Alkylation, Journal of Controlled Release, 102:2, 441-461.