Computer model reveals cells' inner workings
New approach could help tailor chemotherapy treatments
Anne Trafton, News Office
After spending years developing a computational model to help illuminate cell signaling pathways, a team of MIT researchers decided to see what would happen if they "broke" the model.
New Data Resource to Advance Computer-Aided Drug Design
Advances in information technology have shaped not only how we find or share information, but also how we make new medicines. A project just funded by the National Institutes of Health plans to take computer-aided drug design to the next level.
ANN ARBOR, Michigan—Un microprocesador desarrollado en la Universidad de Michigan usa 30.000 veces menos energía en su modalidad de reposo y 10 veces menos en su modalidad activa que los microprocesadores ahora comparables en el mercado.
'Designer enzymes' created by chemists at UCLA, U. of Washington
By Stuart Wolpert
Chemists from UCLA and the University of Washington have succeeded in creating "designer enzymes," a major milestone in computational chemistry and protein engineering.
The research, by a UCLA chemistry group led by professor Kendall Houk and a Washington group headed by biochemist David Baker, is reported March 19 in the advance online publication of the journal Nature. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) supported the study.
It’s All About Geometry:
Protein Contact Surfaces Hold Key to Cures
Supercomputer Powers Tool to Reveal Hidden Interactions
By Paul Tooby
Your mother always told you to do your geometry homework, and for scientists seeking new treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, this advice turns out to be right on the mark.
Computer vision may not be as good as thought, according to MIT study
Cathryn M. Delude, McGovern Institute
For years, scientists have been trying to teach computers how to see like humans, and recent research has seemed to show computers making progress in recognizing visual objects.
BERKELEY – With the cosmetics industry facing a European ban on animal testing in 2009, a newly developed biochip could provide the rapid analysis needed to insure that the chemicals in cosmetics are nontoxic to humans.
New Computational
Technique Can Predict Drug Side Effects
By Debra Kain
Early identification of adverse effects of drugs before they are tested in humans is crucial in developing new therapeutics, as unexpected effects account for a third of all drug failures during the development process. Now researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have developed a novel technique using computer modeling to identify potential side effects of pharmaceuticals, and have used the technique to study a class of drugs that includes tamoxifen, the most prescribed drug in the treatment of breast cancer. Their study is currently available on line at PLoS Computational Biology.
New Software To Aid Early Detection of Infectious Disease Outbreaks
A newly released software program will let health authorities at the site of an infectious disease outbreak quickly analyze data, speeding the detection of new cases and the implementation of effective interventions.
Huntington’s disease is a genetic time bomb: Programmed in the genes, it appears at a predictable age in adulthood, causing a progressive decline in mental and neurological function and finally death. There is, to date, no cure. Huntington’s, and a number of diseases like it, collectively known as trinucleotide repeat diseases, are caused by an unusual genetic mutation: A three-letter piece of gene code is repeated over and over in one gene. Scientists at the Weizmann Institute have now proposed a mechanism that provides an explanation for the remarkable precision of the time bomb in these diseases. This explanation may, in the future, point researchers in the direction of a possible prevention or cure.
UCSD Researchers Give
Computers “Common Sense”
Computer Scientists Inject Context into Automated Image Annotation
By Daniel Kane
Looking at the photo above, you see a person on a tennis court, wielding a tennis racket and chasing a...lemon. Right? Wrong. You don’t think it’s a lemon. You know it's a tennis ball. Computers with the latest image labeling algorithms don't have the contextual wits to know a lemon is very unlikely in this scene. UCSD computer scientists are looking to change that.
Image credit: UC San Diego
Collaboration between Immuno-chemists and Bio-informaticians reveals the PIN codes of the immune system and gives the fight against disease a unique weapon.
There are several reasons why the world is still plagued by diseases we cannot treat or vaccinate against, one of them being the vast complexity of the human immune system.
Danish researchers have now developed a method which can help expose a complicated but crucial part of the immune system's defence response. This method can lead to the creation of entirely new vaccines and treatments.
In Human Grid, We are the Cogs
Human computation placed in a grid, for a greater good
By Daniel Kane
Before you can post a comment to most blogs, you have to type in a series of distorted letters and numbers (a CAPTCHA) to prove that you are a person and not a computer attempting to add comment spam to the blog.
MIT researchers have developed a computer modeling approach that could improve a class of drugs based on antibodies, molecules key to the immune system. The model can predict structural changes in an antibody that will improve its effectiveness.
Image / Shaun Lippow
In this image, a fragment of the antibody Erbitux (cetuximab) binds to its target, a fragment of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The blue ribbon at the top is the backbone of the EGFR fragment, and the red and gray ribbons at the bottom are the backbone of the antibody fragment. The licorice sticks and the balls in the central portion represent protein side chains making close interactions between the antigen (EGFR) and the antibody, with the balls representing one of the mutations designed computationally.
A finales del 2001 se unieron algunos fabricantes de hardware para crear un tipo de conectividad física entre una y otra interfaz a la cual llamaron Serial -ATA-II y formaron lo que desde el 2004 se llama Organización Internacional Serial-ATA. La interfaz S-ATA-II, sucede al tradicional Paralelo ATA o P-ATA (estándar que también se conoce como IDE ) y al S- ATA-1; este último ya con la tecnología S-ATA.
NETWORK MODEL PREDICTS RISK OF DEATH IN SICKLE CELL DISEASE
(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) have developed a method to estimate sickle cell disease severity and predict the risk of death in people with this disease. The study appears online in the June issue of the journal Blood.
Team's model aids understanding of protein networks
Work could impact cancer research
Anne Trafton, News Office
An international team of researchers, including several from MIT, has developed a computational model that helps identify relationships between proteins and the enzymes that regulate them.
The work could help researchers understand the complex protein networks that influence human disease, including cancer. The researchers report their findings in the cover story of the June 29 issue of Cell.
