Suk-Lin Zhou

Functional Network Comparison of Genome Scale Metabolic Reconstructions of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and remains a global health threat due to the increase in numbers of patients with drug resistant bacteria strains. Efforts to create new and more effective drugs have utilized genome scale metabolic network reconstructions of Mtb. These in silico models provide a systematic approach to analyze the metabolism of the bacterium as well as help maintain a rational method of drug design. During my internship at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, I was responsible for comparing existing models to form a basis for future ones that would be more accurate and reliable.