The University of Chicago Header Logo

Michael Rust

TitleProfessor
InstitutionUniversity of Chicago
DepartmentMolecular Genetics and Cell Biology
AddressChicago IL 60637
vCardDownload vCard

    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse overview
    Bacteria are an ancient form of life that occupies almost every conceivable niche, from pathogenesis to commensal existence with an animal host to primary production in oceans and lake. Despite their apparent simplicity, bacteria possess sophisticated biochemical networks that dynamically store information about the size and status of the cell and conditions in the external environment. These biochemical systems allow precise decision making that allow microbes to thrive in challenging conditions. Our lab is interested in the design principles of these reaction networks. We use a multidisciplinary approach: biochemical reconstitution of the underlying interactions, single cell microscopy to study function, and mathematical modeling to rebuild systems in silico. A major focus area is bacterial circadian rhythms, which allow single cells to predict the time of day.
    Collapse webpage

    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse awards and honors
    2014 - 2018Pew Scholar

    Collapse Research 
    Collapse research activities and funding
    R35GM156429     (RUST, MICHAEL)Jan 20, 2025 - Dec 31, 2029
    NIH
    Connecting Circadian Clock Dynamics to Metabolism and Fitness
    Role: Principal Investigator
    R01GM135382     (RUST, MICHAEL)Apr 1, 2020 - Feb 29, 2024
    NIH
    The Biochemistry of Clock Function in Fluctuating Environments
    Role: Principal Investigator
    R01GM107369     (RUST, MICHAEL)Sep 30, 2013 - Jul 31, 2019
    NIH
    Coupling between Circadian Rhythms and Metaboilsm in Cyanobacteria
    Role: Principal Investigator

    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse selected publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
    Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
    PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Matic K, Krishnan N, Frank E, Arellano M, Sriram A, Das M, Valentine MT, Rust MJ, Robertson-Anderson RM, Ross JL. Active and passive crosslinking of cytoskeleton scaffolds tune the effects of cell inclusions on composite structure. Soft Matter. 2025 Apr 28. PMID: 40289744.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    2. Leech G, Melcher L, Chiu M, Nugent M, Juliano S, Burton L, Kang J, Kim SJ, Roy S, Farhadi L, Ross JL, Das M, Rust MJ, Robertson-Anderson RM. Programming scheduled self-assembly of circadian materials. Nat Commun. 2025 01 02; 16(1):176. PMID: 39747896; PMCID: PMC11696221.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Cells
    3. Köbler C, Schmelling NM, Wiegard A, Pawlowski A, Pattanayak GK, Spät P, Scheurer NM, Sebastian KN, Stirba FP, Berwanger LC, Kolkhof P, Macek B, Rust MJ, Axmann IM, Wilde A. Two KaiABC systems control circadian oscillations in one cyanobacterium. Nat Commun. 2024 Sep 03; 15(1):7674. PMID: 39227593; PMCID: PMC11372060.
      Citations: 4     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    4. Leech G, Melcher L, Chiu M, Nugent M, Burton L, Kang J, Kim SJ, Roy S, Ross JL, Das M, Rust MJ, Robertson-Anderson RM, Farhadi L. Timed material self-assembly controlled by circadian clock proteins. ArXiv. 2024 Mar 21. PMID: 36911279; PMCID: PMC10002811.
      Citations:    
    5. Han X, Zhang D, Hong L, Yu D, Wu Z, Yang T, Rust M, Tu Y, Ouyang Q. Determining subunit-subunit interaction from statistics of cryo-EM images: observation of nearest-neighbor coupling in a circadian clock protein complex. Nat Commun. 2023 09 22; 14(1):5907. PMID: 37737245; PMCID: PMC10516925.
      Citations: 4     Fields:    
    6. McGorty RJ, Currie CJ, Michel J, Sasanpour M, Gunter C, Lindsay KA, Rust MJ, Katira P, Das M, Ross JL, Robertson-Anderson RM. Kinesin and myosin motors compete to drive rich multiphase dynamics in programmable cytoskeletal composites. PNAS Nexus. 2023 Aug; 2(8):pgad245. PMID: 37575673; PMCID: PMC10416814.
      Citations: 1     
    7. Salmon C, Salmon M, Paoletti M, Xu E, Priefer R, Rust M, Afnan A. Fake drugs: Using Baseline Spectral Fingerprinting and a sorting algorithm to infer quality of medications. PLoS One. 2023; 18(4):e0281416. PMID: 37099593; PMCID: PMC10132596.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    8. Kim SJ, Chi C, Pattanayak G, Dinner AR, Rust MJ. KidA, a multi-PAS domain protein, tunes the period of the cyanobacterial circadian oscillator. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 09 13; 119(37):e2202426119. PMID: 36067319; PMCID: PMC9478674.
      Citations: 4     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    9. Melcher L, Rennert E, Ross J, Rust M, Robertson-Anderson R, Das M. Sustained order-disorder transitions in a model colloidal system driven by rhythmic crosslinking. Soft Matter. 2022 Apr 13; 18(15):2920-2927. PMID: 35343534.
      Citations: 2     Fields:    
    10. Lee G, Leech G, Lwin P, Michel J, Currie C, Rust MJ, Ross JL, McGorty RJ, Das M, Robertson-Anderson RM. Active cytoskeletal composites display emergent tunable contractility and restructuring. Soft Matter. 2021 Dec 08; 17(47):10765-10776. PMID: 34792082; PMCID: PMC9239752.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    11. Rust MJ. Biological rhythms: The suspended animation clock. Curr Biol. 2021 12 06; 31(23):R1532-R1534. PMID: 34875245.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Cells
    12. Sheung JY, Achiriloaie DH, Currie C, Peddireddy K, Xie A, Simon-Parker J, Lee G, Rust MJ, Das M, Ross JL, Robertson-Anderson RM. Motor-Driven Restructuring of Cytoskeleton Composites Leads to Tunable Time-Varying Elasticity. ACS Macro Lett. 2021 09 21; 10(9):1151-1158. PMID: 35549081; PMCID: PMC9239751.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    13. Liao Y, Rust MJ. The circadian clock ensures successful DNA replication in cyanobacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 05 18; 118(20). PMID: 33972427; PMCID: PMC8157973.
      Citations: 11     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    14. Murugan A, Husain K, Rust MJ, Hepler C, Bass J, Pietsch JMJ, Swain PS, Jena SG, Toettcher JE, Chakraborty AK, Sprenger KG, Wang S, Wood KB, Skanata A, Kussell E, Ranganathan R, Shih HY, Goldenfeld N, Mora T, Walczak AM, Rivoire O. Roadmap on biology in time varying environments. Phys Biol. 2021 05 17; 18(4). PMID: 33477124; PMCID: PMC8652373.
      Citations: 12     Fields:    
    15. Lee G, Leech G, Rust MJ, Das M, McGorty RJ, Ross JL, Robertson-Anderson RM. Myosin-driven actin-microtubule networks exhibit self-organized contractile dynamics. Sci Adv. 2021 02; 7(6). PMID: 33547082; PMCID: PMC7864579.
      Citations: 22     Fields:    
    16. Ricketts SN, Khanal P, Rust MJ, Das M, Ross JL, Robertson-Anderson RM. Triggering Cation-Induced Contraction of Cytoskeleton Networks via Microfluidics. Front Phys. 2020 Nov; 8. PMID: 34368112; PMCID: PMC8341456.
      Citations: 4     
    17. Pattanayak GK, Liao Y, Wallace EWJ, Budnik B, Drummond DA, Rust MJ. Daily Cycles of Reversible Protein Condensation in Cyanobacteria. Cell Rep. 2020 08 18; 32(7):108032. PMID: 32814039; PMCID: PMC10005845.
      Citations: 18     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    18. Hong L, Lavrentovich DO, Chavan A, Leypunskiy E, Li E, Matthews C, LiWang A, Rust MJ, Dinner AR. Bayesian modeling reveals metabolite-dependent ultrasensitivity in the cyanobacterial circadian clock. Mol Syst Biol. 2020 06; 16(6):e9355. PMID: 32496641; PMCID: PMC7271899.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    19. Farhadi L, Ricketts SN, Rust MJ, Das M, Robertson-Anderson RM, Ross JL. Actin and microtubule crosslinkers tune mobility and control co-localization in a composite cytoskeletal network. Soft Matter. 2020 Aug 21; 16(31):7191-7201. PMID: 32207504.
      Citations: 11     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    20. Francis ML, Ricketts SN, Farhadi L, Rust MJ, Das M, Ross JL, Robertson-Anderson RM. Non-monotonic dependence of stiffness on actin crosslinking in cytoskeleton composites. Soft Matter. 2019 Nov 28; 15(44):9056-9065. PMID: 31647488; PMCID: PMC6854303.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    21. Husain K, Pittayakanchit W, Pattanayak G, Rust MJ, Murugan A. Kalman-like Self-Tuned Sensitivity in Biophysical Sensing. Cell Syst. 2019 Nov 27; 9(5):459-465.e6. PMID: 31563474; PMCID: PMC10170658.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    22. Ricketts SN, Francis ML, Farhadi L, Rust MJ, Das M, Ross JL, Robertson-Anderson RM. Varying crosslinking motifs drive the mesoscale mechanics of actin-microtubule composites. Sci Rep. 2019 09 06; 9(1):12831. PMID: 31492892; PMCID: PMC6731314.
      Citations: 21     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    23. Leypunskiy E, Kiciman E, Shah M, Walch OJ, Rzhetsky A, Dinner AR, Rust MJ. Geographically Resolved Rhythms in Twitter Use Reveal Social Pressures on Daily Activity Patterns. Curr Biol. 2018 12 03; 28(23):3763-3775.e5. PMID: 30449672; PMCID: PMC6590897.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    24. Hong L, Vani BP, Thiede EH, Rust MJ, Dinner AR. Molecular dynamics simulations of nucleotide release from the circadian clock protein KaiC reveal atomic-resolution functional insights. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 12 04; 115(49):E11475-E11484. PMID: 30442665; PMCID: PMC6298084.
      Citations: 13     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    25. Liao Y, Rust MJ. The Min Oscillator Defines Sites of Asymmetric Cell Division in Cyanobacteria during Stress Recovery. Cell Syst. 2018 11 28; 7(5):471-481.e6. PMID: 30414921.
      Citations: 7     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    26. Chew J, Leypunskiy E, Lin J, Murugan A, Rust MJ. High protein copy number is required to suppress stochasticity in the cyanobacterial circadian clock. Nat Commun. 2018 08 01; 9(1):3004. PMID: 30068980; PMCID: PMC6070526.
      Citations: 18     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    27. Pittayakanchit W, Lu Z, Chew J, Rust MJ, Murugan A. Biophysical clocks face a trade-off between internal and external noise resistance. Elife. 2018 07 10; 7. PMID: 29988019; PMCID: PMC6059770.
      Citations: 17     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    28. Reagor M, Osborn CB, Tezak N, Staley A, Prawiroatmodjo G, Scheer M, Alidoust N, Sete EA, Didier N, da Silva MP, Acala E, Angeles J, Bestwick A, Block M, Bloom B, Bradley A, Bui C, Caldwell S, Capelluto L, Chilcott R, Cordova J, Crossman G, Curtis M, Deshpande S, El Bouayadi T, Girshovich D, Hong S, Hudson A, Karalekas P, Kuang K, Lenihan M, Manenti R, Manning T, Marshall J, Mohan Y, O'Brien W, Otterbach J, Papageorge A, Paquette JP, Pelstring M, Polloreno A, Rawat V, Ryan CA, Renzas R, Rubin N, Russel D, Rust M, Scarabelli D, Selvanayagam M, Sinclair R, Smith R, Suska M, To TW, Vahidpour M, Vodrahalli N, Whyland T, Yadav K, Zeng W, Rigetti CT. Demonstration of universal parametric entangling gates on a multi-qubit lattice. Sci Adv. 2018 02; 4(2):eaao3603. PMID: 29423443; PMCID: PMC5804605.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    
    29. Dutra B, Carmen Mora M, Gerhardson TI, Sporbert B, Dufresne A, Bittner KR, Lovewell C, Rust MJ, Tirabassi MV, Masi L, Lipkens B, Kennedy DR. A Novel Macroscale Acoustic Device for Blood Filtration. J Med Device. 2018 Mar; 12(1):0110081-110087. PMID: 29719583; PMCID: PMC5816246.
      Citations: 1     
    30. Leypunskiy E, Lin J, Yoo H, Lee U, Dinner AR, Rust MJ. The cyanobacterial circadian clock follows midday in vivo and in vitro. Elife. 2017 07 07; 6. PMID: 28686160; PMCID: PMC5605227.
      Citations: 25     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    31. Jun S, Rust MJ. A Fundamental Unit of Cell Size in Bacteria. Trends Genet. 2017 07; 33(7):433-435. PMID: 28545962; PMCID: PMC5606328.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Cells
    32. Lambert G, Chew J, Rust MJ. Costs of Clock-Environment Misalignment in Individual Cyanobacterial Cells. Biophys J. 2016 Aug 23; 111(4):883-891. PMID: 27558731; PMCID: PMC5002072.
      Citations: 18     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    33. Brown MS, Grubb J, Zhang A, Rust MJ, Bishop DK. Small Rad51 and Dmc1 Complexes Often Co-occupy Both Ends of a Meiotic DNA Double Strand Break. PLoS Genet. 2015 Dec; 11(12):e1005653. PMID: 26719980; PMCID: PMC4697796.
      Citations: 54     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    34. Pattanayak GK, Lambert G, Bernat K, Rust MJ. Controlling the Cyanobacterial Clock by Synthetically Rewiring Metabolism. Cell Rep. 2015 Dec 22; 13(11):2362-2367. PMID: 26686627; PMCID: PMC4691564.
      Citations: 30     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    35. Rust MJ. Computational Recipes in Enzymology. Cell Syst. 2015 Sep 23; 1(3):178-9. PMID: 27135910.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    36. Chang YG, Cohen SE, Phong C, Myers WK, Kim YI, Tseng R, Lin J, Zhang L, Boyd JS, Lee Y, Kang S, Lee D, Li S, Britt RD, Rust MJ, Golden SS, LiWang A. Circadian rhythms. A protein fold switch joins the circadian oscillator to clock output in cyanobacteria. Science. 2015 Jul 17; 349(6245):324-8. PMID: 26113641; PMCID: PMC4506712.
      Citations: 108     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    37. Lin J, Chew J, Chockanathan U, Rust MJ. Mixtures of opposing phosphorylations within hexamers precisely time feedback in the cyanobacterial circadian clock. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Sep 16; 111(37):E3937-45. PMID: 25197081; PMCID: PMC4169968.
      Citations: 29     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    38. Pattanayak GK, Phong C, Rust MJ. Rhythms in energy storage control the ability of the cyanobacterial circadian clock to reset. Curr Biol. 2014 Aug 18; 24(16):1934-8. PMID: 25127221; PMCID: PMC4477845.
      Citations: 48     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    39. Pattanayak G, Rust MJ. The cyanobacterial clock and metabolism. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2014 Apr; 18:90-5. PMID: 24667330; PMCID: PMC4068238.
      Citations: 11     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    40. Curtis CM, Louie RF, Vy JH, Ferguson WJ, Lam M, Truong AT, Rust MJ, Kost GJ. Innovations in point-of-care testing for enhanced United States disaster caches. Am J Disaster Med. 2013; 8(3):181-204. PMID: 24352993.
      Citations: 6     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    41. Phong C, Markson JS, Wilhoite CM, Rust MJ. Robust and tunable circadian rhythms from differentially sensitive catalytic domains. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jan 15; 110(3):1124-9. PMID: 23277568; PMCID: PMC3549141.
      Citations: 62     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    42. Rust MJ. Orderly wheels of the cyanobacterial clock. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Oct 16; 109(42):16760-1. PMID: 23045681; PMCID: PMC3479490.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    43. Rust MJ, Lakadamyali M, Brandenburg B, Zhuang X. Single-particle virus tracking. Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2011 Sep 01; 2011(9). PMID: 21880810.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    44. Rust MJ, Lakadamyali M, Brandenburg B, Zhuang X. Single-virus tracking in live cells. Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2011 Sep 01; 2011(9). PMID: 21880811.
      Citations: 9     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    45. Rust MJ, Golden SS, O'Shea EK. Light-driven changes in energy metabolism directly entrain the cyanobacterial circadian oscillator. Science. 2011 Jan 14; 331(6014):220-3. PMID: 21233390; PMCID: PMC3309039.
      Citations: 126     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    46. Shim JS, Yun YH, Rust MJ, Do J, Shanov V, Schulz MJ, Ahn CH. The precise self-assembly of individual carbon nanotubes using magnetic capturing and fluidic alignment. Nanotechnology. 2009 Aug 12; 20(32):325607. PMID: 19620765.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    
    47. Browne AW, Rust MJ, Jung W, Lee SH, Ahn CH. A rapid prototyping method for polymer microfluidics with fixed aspect ratio and 3D tapered channels. Lab Chip. 2009 Oct 21; 9(20):2941-6. PMID: 19789747.
      Citations: 7     Fields:    
    48. van der Schaar HM, Rust MJ, Chen C, van der Ende-Metselaar H, Wilschut J, Zhuang X, Smit JM. Dissecting the cell entry pathway of dengue virus by single-particle tracking in living cells. PLoS Pathog. 2008 Dec; 4(12):e1000244. PMID: 19096510; PMCID: PMC2592694.
      Citations: 253     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    49. Rust MJ, Markson JS, Lane WS, Fisher DS, O'Shea EK. Ordered phosphorylation governs oscillation of a three-protein circadian clock. Science. 2007 Nov 02; 318(5851):809-12. PMID: 17916691; PMCID: PMC2427396.
      Citations: 187     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    50. van der Schaar HM, Rust MJ, Waarts BL, van der Ende-Metselaar H, Kuhn RJ, Wilschut J, Zhuang X, Smit JM. Characterization of the early events in dengue virus cell entry by biochemical assays and single-virus tracking. J Virol. 2007 Nov; 81(21):12019-28. PMID: 17728239; PMCID: PMC2168764.
      Citations: 126     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    51. Brandenburg B, Lee LY, Lakadamyali M, Rust MJ, Zhuang X, Hogle JM. Imaging poliovirus entry in live cells. PLoS Biol. 2007 Jul; 5(7):e183. PMID: 17622193; PMCID: PMC1914398.
      Citations: 163     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    52. Rust MJ, Bates M, Zhuang X. Sub-diffraction-limit imaging by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM). Nat Methods. 2006 Oct; 3(10):793-5. PMID: 16896339; PMCID: PMC2700296.
      Citations: 2499     Fields:    
    53. Lakadamyali M, Rust MJ, Zhuang X. Ligands for clathrin-mediated endocytosis are differentially sorted into distinct populations of early endosomes. Cell. 2006 Mar 10; 124(5):997-1009. PMID: 16530046; PMCID: PMC2660893.
      Citations: 255     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    54. Lakadamyali M, Rust MJ, Zhuang X. Endocytosis of influenza viruses. Microbes Infect. 2004 Aug; 6(10):929-36. PMID: 15310470; PMCID: PMC2715838.
      Citations: 168     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    55. Rueda D, Bokinsky G, Rhodes MM, Rust MJ, Zhuang X, Walter NG, Rueda D, Bokinsky G, Rhodes MM, Rust MJ, Zhuang X, Walter NG. Single-molecule enzymology of RNA: essential functional groups impact catalysis from a distance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Jul 06; 101(27):10066-71. PMID: 15218105; PMCID: PMC454165.
      Citations: 73     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    56. Rust MJ, Lakadamyali M, Zhang F, Zhuang X. Assembly of endocytic machinery around individual influenza viruses during viral entry. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2004 Jun; 11(6):567-73. PMID: 15122347; PMCID: PMC2748740.
      Citations: 222     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    57. Lakadamyali M, Rust MJ, Babcock HP, Zhuang X, Lakadamyali M, Rust MJ, Babcock HP, Zhuang X. Visualizing infection of individual influenza viruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Aug 05; 100(16):9280-5. PMID: 12883000; PMCID: PMC170909.
      Citations: 291     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    Rust's Networks
    Click the
    Explore
    buttons for more information and interactive visualizations!
    Concepts (192)
    Explore
    _
    Co-Authors (7)
    Explore
    _
    Similar People (60)
    Explore
    _
    Same Department Expand Description
    Explore
    _
    Physical Neighbors
    _