Herbert Levine
University Distinguished Professor, Physics
University Distinguished Professor, Bioengineering
Research Focus
Physical modeling of cancer progression, metastasis and interaction with the immune system. Most recent interests include the role of metabolic plasticity in these processes and the co-evolution of the tumor and the adaptive immune system. Other areas include spatial organization of the actin cytoskeleton, the mechanics of collective cell motility, and the analysis of genetic circuits involved in cell fate decisions.
Education
- 1979 PhD in Physics, Princeton University
- 1977 MA in Physics, Princeton University
- 1976 BS in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Honors & Awards
- Member, National Academy of Sciences
- Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, September 1988
- Fellow, American Physical Society
Research Overview
Physical modeling of cancer progression, metastasis and interaction with the immune system. Most recent interests include the role of metabolic plasticity in these processes and the co-evolution of the tumor and the adaptive immune system. Other areas include spatial organization of the actin cytoskeleton, the mechanics of collective cell motility, and the analysis of genetic circuits involved in cell fate decisions.
Selected Research Projects
- Genome Editing Approaches to Unravel microRNA Roles in Stochastic Multistable Networks
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- The Cancer-Immune Interaction
- – Principal Investigator, Stand up to Cancer and the Breast Cancer Foundation
- The Role of Epithelial Plasticity in Cancer Metastasis
- – Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Chakraborty, Priyanka, George, Jason T, Woodward, Wendy A, Levine, Herbert, Jolly, Mohit Kumar (2021). Gene expression profiles of inflammatory breast cancer reveal high heterogeneity across the epithelial-hybrid-mesenchymal spectrum. Translational Oncology, 14(4),101026. 10.1016/J.TRANON.2021.101026
- Deng, Youyuan, Chakraborty, Priyanka, Jolly, Mohit Kumar, Levine, Herbert (2021). A Theoretical Approach to Coupling the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) to Extracellular Matrix (ECM) Stiffness via LOXL2. Cancers, 13(7),1609. 10.3390/CANCERS13071609
- Eliaz, Yossi, Nedelec, Francois, Morrison, Gregory, Levine, Herbert, Cheung, Margaret S. (2021). Insights From Graph Theory on the Morphologies of Actomyosin Networks with Multilinkers. Biophysical Journal, 120(3),160a. 10.1016/J.BPJ.2020.11.1147
- Jia, Dongya, Park, Jun Hyoung, Kaur, Harsimran, Jung, Kwang Hwa, Yang, Sukjin, Tripathi, Shubham, Galbraith, Madeline, Deng, Youyuan, Jolly, Mohit Kumar, Kaipparettu, Benny Abraham, Onuchic, José N., Levine, Herbert (2021). Towards decoding the coupled decision-making of metabolism and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in cancer. British Journal of Cancer, . 10.1038/S41416-021-01385-Y
- Salgia, Ravi, Kulkarni, Prakash, Levine, Herbert, Loughlin, Danielle T. (2021). Quantifying Cancer: More Than Just a Numbers Game. Trends in Cancer, 7(4),267-269. 10.1016/J.TRECAN.2021.02.002
- Singh, Nishant, Bartol, Thomas, Levine, Herbert, Sejnowski, Terrence, Nadkarni, Suhita (2021). Presynaptic endoplasmic reticulum regulates short-term plasticity in hippocampal synapses. Communications Biology, 4(1). 10.1038/S42003-021-01761-7
- Yu, Clare C, Wortman, Juliana C, He, Ting-Fang, Solomon, Shawn, Zhang, Robert Z, Rosario, Anthony, Wang, Roger, Tu, Travis Y, Schmolze, Daniel, Yuan, Yuan, Yost, Susan E, Li, Xuefei, Levine, Herbert, Atwal, Gurinder, Lee, Peter P (2021). Physics Approaches to the Spatial Distribution of Immune Cells in Tumors. Reports on Progress in Physics, 84(2),022601. 10.1088/1361-6633/ABCD7B
- Chakraborty, Priyanka, George, Jason T., Tripathi, Shubham, Levine, Herbert, Jolly, Mohit Kumar (2020). Comparative Study of Transcriptomics-Based Scoring Metrics for the Epithelial-Hybrid-Mesenchymal Spectrum. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 8. 10.3389/FBIOE.2020.00220
- Eliaz, Yossi, Nedelec, Francois, Morrison, Greg, Levine, Herbert, Cheung, Margaret S. (2020). Insights from graph theory on the morphologies of actomyosin networks with multilinkers. Physical Review E, 102(6). 10.1103/PHYSREVE.102.062420
- J.T. George, H. Levine, Sustained Coevolution in a Stochastic Model of Cancer– Immune Interaction, Cancer Research 80(4), 2020, 811-819
- L. James, C. Bueno, Y. Eliaz, N.P. Schafer, M.N. Waxham, P.G. Wolynes, H. Levine, M.S. Cheung, The Role of the Arp2/3 Complex in Shaping the Dynamics and Structures of Branched Actomyosin Networks, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(20), 2020, 10825-10831
- M.K. Jolly, S.A. Mani, H. Levine, Hybrid Epithelial/Mesenchymal Phenotype(s): The ‘Fittest’ for Metastasis?, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta Reviews on Cancer (BBA), 2018
- J.T. George, D.A. Kessler, H. Levine, Effects of Thymic Selection on T Cell Recognition of Foreign and Tumor Antigenic Peptides, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(38), 2017, E7875-E7881
- M.K. Jolly, K.E. Ware, S. Gilja, J.A. Somarelli, H. Levine EMT and MET: Necessary or Permissive for Metastasis?, Molecular Oncology, 11 (7), 2017, 755-769
Jul 15, 2021
Understanding microRNA Roles in Stochastic Multistable Networks
BioE Assistant Professor Mingyang Lu and Physics/BioE University Distinguished Professor Herbert Levine, in collaboration with Leonidas Bleris from the University of Texas at Dallas, were awarded a $1.4M NSF grant for “Genome Editing Approaches to Unravel microRNA Roles in Stochastic Multistable Networks.”
Jun 07, 2021
Evolution of the Tumor and Metabolic Plasticity Discussed Through the Lens of Physics with Herbert Levine
University Distinguished Professor Herbert Levine, physics and bioengineering, was featured in the Finding Genius podcast “Evolution of the Tumor and Metabolic Plasticity Discussed Through the Lens of Physics“. Listen to the Finding Genius podcast or find it on Apple Podcasts.
Apr 11, 2020
FY21 TIER 1 Award Recipients
Congratulations to the 19 COE faculty and affiliates who were recipients of FY21 TIER 1 Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grants for 13 different projects.
Aug 23, 2019
Levine Uses Theoretical Physics to Make Sense of Cancer
COS/BioE Professor Herbert Levine collaborates with cancer biologists to explore fundamental questions, such as how cancer spreads and why immunotherapies only work for certain patients.
Jan 04, 2019
New Faculty Spotlight: Herbert Levine
Herbert Levine joins the Bioengineering department in January 2019 as a University Distinguished Professor with a joint appointment in Physics.
Apr 18, 2018
Herbert Levine Recruited Through Game Changers Fund
Newly recruited BioE Professor Herbert Levine will become Northeastern’s first National Academy of Sciences member and the first one recruited under the new "Game Changers Fund". Source: News @ Northeastern Biophysicist is first professor recruited through ‘Game Changer’ initiative by Allie Nicodemo, April 12, 2018 Northeastern has recruited its first faculty member through the university’s […]