CompuCell-3D models behaviors rather than genes
Researchers have successfully simulated how growing blood vessels affect the sizes and shapes of tumors using a 3-D model based solely on how cells behave—without reference to intracellular...
Jan, 01, 2010
I'd like to pay homage to James Burke and his inspiring PBS show Connections by taking you on my own short journey of connected ideas.
The timeless game of chess has long been a grand challenge for artificial intelligence, with the number of possible games being much greater than the number of atoms in the universe. Baron...
Jan, 01, 2006
Simulations can teach us how young bodies and faces develop; how an artery compensates for decades of fatty plaque deposits by growing and thickening its walls; how tissue engineers can best coax endothelial cells to develop into organized sheets of skin for burn patients; and how cancerous tumors invade neighboring tissue.
For better or for worse, and on many levels, our tissues never stop growing and changing. While developing from childhood to old age, we grow not only bone, cartilage, fat, muscle and skin, but also...
Apr, 01, 2008
For proteins, structure information leads to an understanding of function. The same turns out to be true for ribozymes, ribosomal RNAs, and some other recently discovered RNAs. But mapping out that...
Mar, 01, 2009
A new application automates MSM visualization
An unfolded protein can move through thousands of intermediate structures (conformations) before finding its properly folded state. One approach to understanding this process involves simulating a...
Feb, 19, 2013
Using computation, researchers narrow the search space for directed evolution; guide mutagenesis; and create de novo enzymes
Enzymes are among nature’s crowning achievements: they accelerate chemical reactions, making life possible. People have co-opted natural enzymes for industrial use for thousands of years (think...
Feb, 19, 2013
Bringing models closer to reality
When the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia launched on January 16, 2003, a large piece of foam fell off and hit the left wing. Alerted of the impact, NASA engineers used a computer model to predict...
Oct, 19, 2012
Six startups jockey for a place at the table. Who will succeed?
A handful of startups are wagering that genome interpretation is the next big thing.
Why is this business space so hot? “Once you can produce a better faster genome, thanks...
Jun, 20, 2013
Computing using time steps -- a necessary approximation
Time flows like a continuous, steady river. And it moves forward—never back. These facts create inherent challenges for computer simulations of biological molecules in motion.
It would...
Jun, 19, 2013