2-D visualizations by HemoVis software leads to faster, more accurate diagnoses
To diagnose heart disease noninvasively, scientists combine 3-D visualizations of the heart and blood vessels (reconstructed from CT scans) with computer simulations of blood flow. Typically, a...
Jan, 02, 2012
Synthetic biologists explain cell behaviors while desinging new ones
Without synchronized clocks—whether embedded in our body’s cells or programmed into our desktop computers—any kind of coordinated activity is impossible. So after synthetic...
Apr, 01, 2010
The structure of RNA is an important key to its function—including its role in disease. However, the structure of most RNAs is unknown because their extreme flexibility and high charge...
Mar, 01, 2009
Postdocs get a glance at the entire field and their first inside view of NIH grant-making
If he were a graduate student now, Francis Collins would be studying computational biology. That’s what the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) told a rapt audience at the...
Feb, 19, 2013
During the one-hour drama that is human cell division, many genes enter and exit the stage. Until now, researchers did not know the identities of many of these actors, nor understand their various...
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
Ecce Homology is a physically interactive new-media work that visualizes genetic data as calligraphic forms.
A group of artists and scientists has created an interactive artwork using BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool), one of the foundational algorithms for comparative genomics. Normally, the BLAST...
Sep, 01, 2005
Set objectives and follow through
Having engineered several scientific software applications for public consumption, the authors know from experience that the process offers unique challenges. Typically, the algorithms being...
Oct, 22, 2012
I'd like to pay homage to James Burke and his inspiring PBS show Connections by taking you on my own short journey of connected ideas.
The timeless game of chess has long been a grand challenge for artificial intelligence, with the number of possible games being much greater than the number of atoms in the universe. Baron...
Jan, 01, 2006
LoopTK samples and visualizes many conformations of a protein loop to better understand loop movement
In the gaps between the tight coils and flattened sheets that comprise most protein structures, flexible loops wave and bend. When crystallized, these loops can appear fuzzy in an electron density...
Jul, 01, 2007