This powerful, dynamic software system is changing how scientists sift through the recent deluge of human genomic data — and deepening our knowledge of human biology, health and disease. What once seemed impossible — sequencing an entire genome — is now fast, routine and cheap. With sequences from hundreds of thousands of human genomes now […]
The suite of software tools collectively known as Rosetta is defined not only by what it does, but also by a community of scientists who are changing how collaborations thrive and move science forward. To answer the most complex questions in science — the nature of life, the origins of the universe — scientists often […]
What does it mean to compute something? Fingers play the calculator keys; humming servers plow through algorithms. To compute is to calculate, to generate a solution, to predict an outcome from a distilled set of variables determined to be meaningful to the problem. We can compute the path of a comet, the metabolism of a […]
CENTER FOR COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) brutally targets nerve cells. The disease first causes progressive muscle weakness and, typically within three years, results in paralysis and death. Baseball player Lou Gehrig and scientist Stephen Hawking both contracted ALS, and today over 200,000 people worldwide live with the disease. While scientists have linked several […]
SIMONS COLLABORATION ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE Earth’s fossil record suggests that by 3.5 billion years ago, life had found a footing on our planet. Yet the very processes that would shape the further evolution of that life — such as plate tectonics, erosion and weathering — also destroyed or muddled the crucial first records […]
A model system exploring ATP synthase reveals that rotation, repulsion and flow can crystallize proteins. It may explain a biophysical mystery in mitochondrial membranes. Self-organizing systems surround us, from the synchronization of a flock of birds to the dance of the cellular scaffolding known as the cytoskeleton. Deemed ‘active matter,’ self-organizing systems hold enticing stories. […]
