There is growing recognition that epigenetics may be just as important as genetics in human health and disease.
In the early 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck explained evolution as the inheritance of acquired traits; he believed that changes due to behaviors and exposures in one generation could be passed...
May, 31, 2010
Different cell types intriguingly varied
Each cell in a person’s body contains the same three billion letter DNA encyclopedia. But the many different cell types throughout the body (brain, bone, heart, skin, etc.) represent different...
Jun, 01, 2015
Where did we come from? Ask a computer.
In 1977, the late Carl Woese, PhD, shook up biology when he published the first tree of life based on genetic sequence data. His team showed that, contrary to popular belief, eukaryotes did not...
Aug, 31, 2013
Using computational models, researchers are gaining traction toward understanding what makes a stem cell a stem cell; how gene expression drives stem cell differentiation; why studying stem cell heterogeneity is important; and, ultimately, how stem cells control their fate.
To the casual observer, stem cells offer the almost magical promise of—Voila!—turning into exactly the kind of cell needed to repair an injured spinal cord or replace a damaged organ. And...
Mar, 31, 2010
A virtual lab rat; simulated DNA; an artificial pancreas; & integrating mental health data
Several biomedical computing projects received multi-million dollar funding in the fall of 2011, including efforts to: simulate the cardiac physiology of the rat; build a state-of-the-art DNA...
Jan, 01, 2012
Living systems are characterized by intricate networks of interactions among tens of thousands of entities within cells and across extracellular milieus. The entities in these networks include such...
Nov, 16, 2017
How data about genes, physical activity, and the environment are yielding insights about obesity
Despite extensive efforts, a clear understanding of the obesity epidemic remains elusive. Scientists have implicated specific causal genes (40 to 60 percent of obesity is considered heritable);...
Nov, 16, 2017
A Seller’s Market for Biomedical Data Science Jobs
Just pondering the current job market for biomedical data scientists is likely to put a smile on the faces of many in the field.
“The bottom line is, compared to other disciplines,...
Oct, 07, 2015