Profiles in Computer Science Courage Part I: Reflections on the rewards of plunging into biomedicine
Interviews with Leonidas Guibas, Ron Shamir, Michael Black, David Haussler, Daphne Koller, Erin Halperin, Gene Myers, Paul Groth and Bruce Donald
To a computer scientist, the fields of biology and medicine can seem like the vast Pacific Ocean, says Leonidas Guibas, PhD, professor of computer science at Stanford University. “You go to the...
Apr, 01, 2011
Helping newcomers understand the lay of the land
As a program manager in biomedical computing and computational biology at the National Institutes of Health, I field many questions, particularly from new investigators. They ask questions like:...
Apr, 01, 2010
Advances in computational power and algorithms have led to longer and more accurate molecular dynamics simulations of protein folding. But these approaches, because they are computationally intensive...
Jun, 06, 2012
A model of chromatin explores how it folds and unfolds
To fit an organism’s DNA into a single cell, it has to be tightly compacted, first wound around proteins to form chromatin fibers, then further coiled into chromosomes. Computer simulations by...
Sep, 01, 2005
Where simulation and theory converge
For decades, scientists have believed that DNA of short lengths (150 base pairs or fewer) behaves as a relatively stiff rod—able to quiver a bit, but rarely forming a circle or tight angle...
Apr, 01, 2007
The Fall 2005 “Under the Hood” column discussed the curse of dimensionality—too many numerical components for each data point—and the curse of dataset sparsity—too few...
Oct, 01, 2010
Advances in visualization changing work flows for understanding molecular dynamics, tracking cell movements, and designing interventional procedures
The pathway from raw data to valuable visualization of molecules, cells or organs being simulated over time involves several potentially painstaking steps. Typically, researchers must generate a set...
Sep, 02, 2011
For a century, neuroscientists have dissected, traced, eavesdropped on, and are now compiling a seemingly endless cast of players in the nervous system. As we keep gathering more and more molecular...
Apr, 01, 2009
Computational simulations of life in motion at every scale—molecular, cellular, tissue-level, and whole organism—are boosting our understanding of the role mechanics plays in controlling life.
From atoms and molecules to insects, dinosaurs, and humans, computational researchers are finding that much of life can be understood in mechanical terms. Indeed, the machines of life are...
Jan, 01, 2008
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