Computation offers a window into a disease often described as a black box
The growing threats of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) are spurring worldwide interest in faster and more innovative research approaches, such as...
Jun, 06, 2012
The importance of developing and deploying tools for the quantitative clinician scientist
The word Om (or Aum) has many meanings in ancient Hindu philosophy, one of which is “that which contains all other sounds.” The meaning has relevance to the now commonly used suffix...
Jun, 01, 2010
Finding the Master Regulators
A cell may change states several times in its lifetime—from a stem cell to a specialized cell, for example, or from a normal cell to a cancerous one. Each time this happens, a veritable army of...
Apr, 01, 2010
Decades of steady progress in pharmacogenetics have unearthed hundreds of associations between genes and drug response. But the field has to solve some theoretical and practical issues before it can deliver on the promise of personalized drug therapy.
As algorithms go, it’s deceptively simple. Just add together eight weighted pieces of patient information—age, height, weight, race, data about two genes, and a pair of clinical...
Jul, 01, 2009
To fit inside the cell nucleus, DNA molecules wrap around tiny protein spindles known as histones. These histones carry an intriguing biochemical code that helps decide a cell’s destiny—...
Apr, 01, 2010
Looking inside the cell without opening it
When light hits an obstacle, its scattering pattern reveals information regarding the internal structure of the obstacle. If that obstacle is a cell, the scattering pattern might indicate whether the...
Jun, 01, 2005
How mathematical models are transforming the fight against cancer
The most common test for prostate cancer (known as PSA screening) misses aggressively growing prostate tumors—the type typically seen in young patients. It’s a fact that was accepted by...
Apr, 01, 2007
Principal component analysis of gene expression signatures may help determine prognosis
Researchers have long speculated that many of the genetic programs responsible for rapid growth of tumors are also important for the growth that occurs during normal embryonic development.
Now...
Oct, 01, 2010
The National Cancer Institute launched the Integrative Cancer Biology Program (ICBP) in October 2004, providing a total of $15 million to nine multidisciplinary centers. The goal: to use predictive...
Jun, 01, 2005
An opportunity and a challenge
When discussing biocomputation startups, there’s one thing people agree on: These days, they don’t generate much excitement among venture capitalists.
“In the 1990s, there...
Apr, 01, 2007