Balancing Breadth and Depth
The last decade saw a proliferation of training programs at the intersection of life science and computation, with more than 60 new degree and certificate programs launched in the United States alone...
Sep, 01, 2005
The study of HIV evolution is not only critical to fighting the virus; it has also driven advances in the computational tools used to study evolution in general.
When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, it would be decades before HIV would jump from monkeys to humans and set off a devastating worldwide pandemic. But evolution is at the heart of...
Jul, 01, 2009
Many systems models are strikingly vulnerable to even small changes in the variables
Systems biologists seek to model many complex biological interactions all at once. Typically, they input tens or even hundreds of variables to produce predic- tions about a system—for example,...
Jan, 01, 2008
Predicting protein localization
Joe works in a factory; Jane works in a hospital; protein X works in the Golgi apparatus. Just as one might guess a worker’s job by knowing where he or she is employed, biologists can guess a...
Apr, 01, 2006
Simulating how cells form patterns.
Normal zebrafish have stripes, but mutant forms may display spots, blotches, or labyrinthine patterns. It’s a scenario that Rudyard Kipling might turn into a wonderful “just-so”...
Jul, 01, 2008
A standard dictionary definition of a network is “an interconnected or interrelated chain, group, or system.” A cursory look at our surroundings shows that networks are ubiquitous. For...
Oct, 01, 2007
As barriers to massive imaging collections fall, researchers can look at human systems in their entirety rather than in pieces
In the beginning there was the Visible Human. It broke new ground by gathering some 2,000 serial images from a death row inmate’s cadaver, and was the first time researchers had sectioned a...
Jul, 01, 2007
Modelers are using recent gains in computational power to consider the complex interactions of hundreds or thousands of macromolecules at once--a necessary first step toward whole cell simulation
Molecules in cells behave like people in crowded subway cars. Because they can barely budge or stretch out without bumping into a neighbor, they move more slowly, smush themselves into more compact...
Apr, 01, 2011
It’s impossible to predict what the hottest new tools will be, but here are a few gems that caught our attention
Many experimental researchers rely on computational tools to push the pace and productivity of laboratory research. It’s impossible to predict what the hottest new tools will be, but this...
Apr, 01, 2011
Open Source reflections; designing with code re-use; and Cygwin
Do you have a few favorite books that you recommend to anyone with an interest in biomedical computing? Are there software products or Web sites that you love to evangelize? We’d like to open...
Sep, 01, 2005