Several big-dollar initiatives received NIH funding in late 2010
In the current economic climate, every research dollar counts. Fortunately, when it comes to biomedical computing, not everyone has been left counting change. Several big-dollar initiatives received...
Apr, 01, 2011
Getting the molecular dynamics car out of the garage
For those who are not practitioners of dynamical simulation methods, such as molecular dynamics (MD), one of the biggest misconceptions relates to time. Specifically, the mismatch between the...
Jun, 19, 2013
Computing using time steps -- a necessary approximation
Time flows like a continuous, steady river. And it moves forward—never back. These facts create inherent challenges for computer simulations of biological molecules in motion.
It would...
Jun, 19, 2013
To understand biology—and provide appropriate medical care—scientists need to understand interactions across multiple scales. Hence the Physiome.
This is the reality of human biology: events span a 109 range in lengthscale (molecular to organismal) and a 1014 range in timescale (molecular movement to years). To understand this biology—...
Jun, 01, 2010
A new application automates MSM visualization
An unfolded protein can move through thousands of intermediate structures (conformations) before finding its properly folded state. One approach to understanding this process involves simulating a...
Feb, 19, 2013
A computational model of alpha-synuclein as it aggregates
Under a microscope, the curious protein clumps that dot the brains of Parkinson’s patients stick out like the culprits they are. But no one has yet caught the protein—alpha-synuclein...
Jul, 01, 2007
Like humans, cells are affected by their physical environment, their neighbors, the context in which they exist. Much research has focused on the chemical signals that control cell behavior. But...
Sep, 01, 2011
Despite their identical genomes, cells in the body develop distinct personalities—become neurons or liver cells, for instance—due to differences in gene expression. The mechanism that...
Apr, 01, 2009
Now, with just a few mouse clicks, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can create graphic images of RNA molecules (using ToRNADo) or generate the ion environments that surround these...
Jan, 01, 2007
Computational modeling can help fill gaps in how we develop and review new drugs and devices
What role does computational modeling play at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? If you ask Paul Watkins, MD, director of the Hamner—University of North Carolina...
Sep, 01, 2011