Systems biology requires a sophisticated suite of mathematical, computational, and experimental tools, not to mention the ability to navigate complex professional networks.
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Whoever said that mathematics is esoteric, detached from reality, and only open to those with strong will? For the life sciences, mathematics provides the framework to identify what is potentially (biologically) plausible from what is not. In fact, it is amazing to realise how useful mathematics is for understanding patterns in the natural world, from the helical structu...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX As many of the articles in this feature have indicated, biology is at a crossroads. Biologists have more data than they know what to do with, and mathematicians have the tools and expertise to begin to make sense of it. But mathematicians lack the fundamental knowledge of biology necessary to understand the results. Meanwhile, biologists grasp the systems they're studyin...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX McGill University's new Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Strategic Training Initiative Program in Chemical Biology is offering students the opportunity to undertake a unique research project that incorporates training in both biochemistry and chemistry. Stephane Leung, who's background is in biochemistry, and Cedric Gaudineau, a chemist, tell us what drew th...
I was an oddball--at least I thought I was. I entered graduate school knowing that I wanted to be a faculty member who focused on teaching. When, during my first year of graduate school, I perhaps naïvely informed my thesis adviser that "I was in graduate school because I want to be a college teacher, not because I want to devote my life to research," he responded that it was his "job to convince...
Established last year, Ottawa's Institute of Systems Biology applies systems biology tools to the study of human diseases. And the institute is hiring.
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX During my days in high school in Germany I always said that I would like to become a professor in Hawaii. Well, I made it at least half way. Aged 37, I am presently associate professor in mathematics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. My area of expertise is mathematical biology, an area that I hadn't even heard of when I was an undergraduate. Therefore, I...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Picture this: A theoretical biologist out for a mountain hike meets a sleeping shepherd. The shepherd awakes visibly disturbed. He offers the theoretical biologist one of his sheep as a reward if he is able to calculate the exact number of animals in his herd. The theoretical biologist estimates the number to perfection and goes to take his prize. To the shepherd's amaze...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Have you ever wondered how epidemics such as West Nile fever might be controlled, how cells signal each other, whether a new invasive species will decimate an ecosystem, or how to treat cancer patients optimally? All of these questions have something in common: Researchers at the University of Alberta are using mathematics to answer them. Work on these and related proble...
Plastic DNA model (credit: PhotoDisc) PhotoDisc Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, scientists have expanded their knowledge of how living cells work with new approaches including genomics, proteomics, and systems biology. Yet it is another development--the ability not only to understand but also to synthesize genes at a speed and cost unthinkable just a few years ago--that ...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Seminars can induce a near catatonic state in some students. However, a seminar series is where Abdul-Aziz Yakubu (pictured left) saw past the often tedious details and into the widespread relevance of mathematical biology, awakening a lifelong passion. This native of Ghana, who is now a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., began his love affair with mathe...
NEXT WAVE STAFF UNITED STATES To follow up on our recent bioinformatics feature Next Wave invited Stanford University researcher, David Botstein, to chat with Next Wave readers live online. The question and answer session, which was held on Tuesday, September 12, was a huge success. In fact, we understand that many who tried to reach the Next Wave site during the chat were unable to do so. Moreov...
Systems biology seeks to connect the dots between molecular data. It's a hot career field, but success requires making connections between disciplines.
Seminars can induce a near catatonic state in some students. However, a seminar series is where Abdul-Aziz Yakubu (pictured left) saw past the often tedious details and into the widespread relevance of mathematical biology, awakening a lifelong passion. This native of Ghana, who is now a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C., began his love affair with mathematical biology while atte...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX "I have found that [if you become] known in biology as somebody who can talk to [biologists], you become incredibly popular," says Professor Jaroslav Stark of the Mathematics Department at Imperial College London. With opportunities at the interface between maths and biology blossoming, there's a shortage of mathematicians with an understanding of biology and good commun...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX How does one become a mathematical biologist? The answer to this question is as varied and eclectic as the variety of current practitioners of this broad field. But in my own case, the route was uniquely simple. Growing up in an academic family with a mathematician father and a biologist mother made for the right mixture of influences. My father was forever proselytizing...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX When I was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto I was interested in a research career, but I wouldn't have believed you if you had told me I would end up doing biological research. It's not that I didn't find living things fascinating---who could not? But I accepted the notion that biological systems, and their bewilderingly complex behaviour, could ultimately b...
Genome Institute of Singapore http://www.gis.a-star.edu.sg Lund University http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s/450 Massachusetts Institute of Technology http://web.mit.edu Newcastle University http://www.newcastle.ac.uk University of Cambridge http://www.cam.ac.uk University of Washington http://www.washington.edu WiCell Research Institute http://www.wicell.org With all of the excitement during the past few...
