ACM TechNews
Scientists Open Columbia's New Computational Biology Lab
Columbia University (07/29/08)
Columbia University's new Pe'er/Bussemaker Lab for Systems Biology will
work to develop and apply tools that can analyze and derive meaning from
the massive amounts of data being created by the rapidly expanding field of
systems and computational biology. Systems and computational biology is
the crossroad between modern molecular biology and new research techniques
that developed out of engineering, computer science, chemistry,
mathematics, statistics, and physical fields. Lab cofounder Dana Pe'er
says systems and computational biology could potentially allow scientists
to pose limitless questions on how our cells work and other issues related
to general human health, such as the study of gene networks, the analysis
of protein shapes, the prediction of biological function, and understanding
how a cell processes signals. Pe'er says data created from such research
could answer important questions such as what happens within a disease and
what drug targets can lead to a cure. The lab contains a "smart board," a
whiteboard computer with touch-screen technology, digital writing, video
projection, and other capabilities considered vital to visualizing large
amounts of data among groups of researchers. "The new lab allows students
from across different disciplines to interact and openly discuss their
research," Pe'er says. "Each discipline--biology, computer science,
physics, engineering, chemistry and mathematics--contributes tools and a
particular way of thinking."
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/research/compbio.html
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