A virtual lab rat; simulated DNA; an artificial pancreas; & integrating mental health data
Several biomedical computing projects received multi-million dollar funding in the fall of 2011, including efforts to: simulate the cardiac physiology of the rat; build a state-of-the-art DNA...
Jan, 02, 2012
Scientists have long wondered how many genes are necessary to support life. This knowledge could be used to construct new forms of artificial life to efficiently produce better biofuels or drugs....
Jan, 01, 2008
To understand biology—and provide appropriate medical care—scientists need to understand interactions across multiple scales. Hence the Physiome.
This is the reality of human biology: events span a 109 range in lengthscale (molecular to organismal) and a 1014 range in timescale (molecular movement to years). To understand this biology—...
Jun, 01, 2010
POINT/
NO: Grant applications for the development and maintenance of software and infrastructure should compete with basic research applications.
Biomedicine has a strong...
Jul, 01, 2009
A myriad of environmental changes inspire only a handful of responses
Biologists’ favorite bacterium grows almost anywhere—from the human gut to the pounding surf. But E. coli’s remarkable adaptability apparently stems from being predictable rather...
Apr, 01, 2006
Several big-dollar initiatives received NIH funding in late 2010
In the current economic climate, every research dollar counts. Fortunately, when it comes to biomedical computing, not everyone has been left counting change. Several big-dollar initiatives received...
Apr, 01, 2011
Computationally modeling the hot spots
Tiny gold particles that absorb laser light and convert it into heat are a promising therapy for destroying tumors. However, controlling the temperature of such gold nanoshells is crucial: The shells...
Jan, 01, 2010
Mimicking the social behavior of groups of animals to search for the minimum value of an objective function
Optimizing the solution to a problem occurs commonly in engineering and in nature. The Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm borrows ideas from nature and is a fairly new method of...
Jan, 01, 2007
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
Navigating the oviduct and other mysteries
The essential elements of human fertilization are clear: sperm swim through the uterus, travel up the fallopian tube, and fertilize an egg. Not as well understood are the the nitty-gritty details of...
Jun, 19, 2013