Brain implants are giving hope to the disabled and revolutionizing neuroscience
Matthew Nagle can move a cursor on a computer screen with only the power of his thoughts. It’s a remarkable feat for anyone, but especially momentous for Nagle, who is paralyzed from the neck...
Aug, 31, 2005
Watching changes over time
These days, molecular biologists often gather data over a period of time—observing shifts as they occur inside groups of cells undergoing natural changes. The researchers then face the daunting...
Jun, 01, 2010
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
Janelia farmers pursue novel, cross-disciplinary collaborations to work on long-term, unwieldy scientific problems difficult to tackle in a single laboratory
The folks at Howard Hughes Medical Institute who dreamed up Janelia Farm say it is as much a social innovation as a scientific one. “We are creating a different culture here,” says Gerald...
Jul, 01, 2006
During the final step of cell division, a ring of proteins pinches the cell in two—a process often likened to a purse string drawing shut. The analogy evokes a picture of thread-like proteins...
Apr, 01, 2008
Computer vision program rivals the human ability to rapidly recognize objects in a complex picture
Our brains can recognize most of the things we pass on an evening stroll: Cars, buildings, trees, and people all register even at a great distance or from an odd angle. Now, a new computer vision...
Jul, 01, 2007
A newly created molecular computer works in human cells and offers the flexibility of a general-purpose circuit. The advance, described in Nature Biotechnology in May, brings closer the eventual...
Oct, 01, 2007
Using computational models, researchers are gaining traction toward understanding what makes a stem cell a stem cell; how gene expression drives stem cell differentiation; why studying stem cell heterogeneity is important; and, ultimately, how stem cells control their fate.
To the casual observer, stem cells offer the almost magical promise of—Voila!—turning into exactly the kind of cell needed to repair an injured spinal cord or replace a damaged organ. And...
Apr, 01, 2010
The Human Genome Project has spurred extraordinary developments in our ability to characterize cellular systems in high-throughput fashion. Polymorphism, methylation, gene expression, and proteomics...
Apr, 01, 2008
Atomistic simulations have the potential to elucidate the molecular basis of biological processes such as protein misfolding in Alzheimer’s disease or the conformational changes that drive...
Jan, 01, 2010