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
Bioinformatics and computational biology enable microbiome research
This past June, 200 members of the NIH-funded Human Microbiome Project (HMP) Consortium published a slew of papers offering fresh insights into the role microbial communities play in the human body...
Oct, 22, 2012
The clear winner: Big Data
Several biomedical computing projects received big money in the fall of 2012. If there’s one clear winner, it’s “Big Data”: three of the grants focus on building new...
Feb, 19, 2013
Unlike most classical engineering materials, biological tissues can adapt to external stimuli by growing in volume: Skin grows in response to wounding; muscles grow in response to exercise; cancer...
Apr, 01, 2011
Filling a gap in single molecule experimental work
Scientists sometimes find themselves up to their elbows in Styrofoam balls, pipe cleaners, and metal rods as they try to build models of the molecules they are studying. Now, they can exchange all...
Apr, 01, 2010
Computing airflow dynamics
We can’t see them, but tiny particles—dust, pollen, microbes, and the like—swirl around us in complicated, turbulent pathways. New numerical simulations suggest that, at least in...
Jun, 01, 2010
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
How some tools are already impacting patients
Medical decision-making is often more art than science, requiring physicians to exercise judgment in the face of complex factual circumstances. But now a few tools offer the opportunity to...
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
How adding jet packs to characters' hands can help optimize animations
An animated human figure seeking the optimal path from point A to point B typically relies on computationally expensive hard constraints that force the trajectories to be physically realistic. But...
Jun, 20, 2013