By computationally combining incomplete imaging information with bits and pieces of structural data from all sorts of different experiments, researchers have worked out the protein-by-protein structure of an important cellular assembly called the nuclear pore complex.
Like puzzles? Here’s a tough one: Try figuring out the construction of a nearly 500-piece machine without blueprints or a complete picture. Biologists have now accomplished just such a feat,...
Apr, 01, 2008
Central repository of information on genes and proteins requires participation by the scientific community
If you build it, will they come? That’s the question on everyone’s mind after the launch of two pioneering initiatives in community annotation: WikiProteins and Gene Wiki, announced,...
Oct, 01, 2008
While science educators actively debate the relative merits of teaching natural science in an integrated fashion, some authors are writing texts that will make it happen. Philip Nelson’s book,...
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
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
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
Biologists have long taken gas exchange for granted, assuming that gases simply seep through the cell’s lipid membrane. Since 1998, however, evidence has been building that gases might also be...
Jul, 01, 2007
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
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
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