NBB Research Topics

Computational Biology

Biological systems such as gene expression, neuronal population dynamics, cell molecular signaling and animal behavior are highly complex and often challenging to interpret. Computational biology is the application of computational techniques to study these complex systems using mathematical models, computer simulations, and computational data analysis tools.

Computational biology is an interdisciplinary field that integrates knowledge from computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and the life sciences. For example, in computational neuroscience different computational methods are used to model neural circuits, simulate brain function, and analyze brain-recorded neural data, to understand how the brain processes information and generates behavior. Another example is computational structural biology, where experimentally determined and predicted structures of proteins, DNA, and RNA are used to decipher biological processes in atomic detail. Computations with a protein, DNA, or RNA query often provide a broad view by examination of the query within the context of its “family” of evolutionary relatives. This approach readily reveals the most important biological functions of the query, which are often shared throughout the family. Likewise, computations can suggest interactions of the query with other molecules. Altogether, this data enables inference of the biological functions of the query in health and disease. Computational tools are also helpful for drug discovery, where they facilitate the discovery of drug targets and may suggest small drug-like compounds that dock well to the target and could manipulate its activity.