The NCBCs legacy of human capital
In this issue of Biomedical Computation Review, we feature a look at the NIH Roadmap National Centers for Biomedical Computing (NCBC) program. The NCBC program was a response to the recommendations...
Oct, 19, 2012
Incremental progress and measured successes
Personalized cancer therapy is now a reality. A handful of tumor-classifying tests and targeted drugs are in widespread clinical use; and early attempts are underway to match high-risk cancer...
Jan, 02, 2012
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
Multi-scale modeling is now at what might be called its gestational stage
For centuries, mathematics has been an indispensable ally of the physical sciences and engineering. Planes fly and telephones work because engineers know how to simplify physical systems into...
Apr, 01, 2006
Machine learning for an artificial pancreas and deep brain stimulation
Embedded medical devices that both detect symptoms and treat them have existed for decades. Take, for example, the heart pacemaker. But a new generation of implants could soon emerge to do something...
Oct, 19, 2012
A debate
Say you are performing biomolecular investigations that are extremely compute intensive. You have a finite amount of money and time. You could get (1) a supercomputer (fast custom CPUs and high-speed...
Oct, 01, 2009
A safe haven for asking fundamental, wide-ranging questions
In the summer, it can be hard to find a place to sit at the Santa Fe Institute. Much of the year, only about a dozen researchers make their home at the multidisciplinary research organization. But in...
Oct, 01, 2006
Making reproducible research accessible to people who don’t write code
A particular mashup of data and tools produces the unique results found in each computational biology publication. Now, researchers have developed a model system that gives readers—especially...
Apr, 01, 2010
Describing information flow within cells
Like corporate and governmental organizations, cells rely on middle managers to keep things running smoothly. These “middle managers” function as a critical bridge that controls the flow...
Jun, 01, 2010
Disentangling the different types of skeptics and what modelers can learn from each.
What are the telltale signs of a modeling talk at a biology conference? Just look for the sighs, shifting, and eye-rolling in the audience, says Donald C. Bolser, PhD, professor of physiological...
Jun, 05, 2012