Computer in Biological News

New computer simulation helps explain folding in important cellular protein

Athens, Ga. Most parts of living organisms come packaged with ribbons. The ribbons are proteinschains of amino acids that must fold into three-dimensional structures to work properly. But when for any reason the ribbons fold incorrectly, bad things can happen, and in humans misfolded-protein diso...

Collaboration leads to success: Most powerful computer of its kind in western N.Y. available worldwide

BUFFALO, N.Y. Local scientist Dr. Russ Miller is leading the rollout of "Magic," one of the most powerful computers in New York State to qualified users worldwide for solving computationally-demanding problems. New Methods Allow Scholars to Address Previously Unsolvable Problems Cyberinf...

New open-source software permits faster desktop computer simulations of molecular motion

Whether vibrating in place or taking part in protein folding to ensure cells function properly, molecules are never still. Simulating molecular motions provides researchers with information critical to designing vaccines and helps them decipher the bases of certain diseases, such as Alzheimer's an...

Lifecycles of tropical cyclones predicted in global computer model

The initial results of the first computer model that simulates the global atmosphere with a detailed representation of individual clouds have been analyzed by a team of scientists at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, Japan-Agency for Marin...

$2 million computer will help unravel major medical ailments

A federal grant will allow Johns Hopkins researchers to purchase a powerful $2 million computer that will speed up their efforts to find new ways to diagnose and treat brain disease, heart illnesses, cancer and other medical ailments. The Institute for Computational Medicine, based at Johns Ho...

Atmel's FingerChip Biometric Sensor Selected by Rise Computer for its Robust Security

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), an inventor and leading provider of swipe sensor technology and solutions, announced today that its FingerChip(R) fingerprint sensor solution has been selected by Rise Computer, Inc. for its RX5622 LCD PC. Rise will ...

Center for Computer Forensics Offers Expert to Volunteer as CFCE Certification Applicants Coach

Forensic examiner coaches law enforcement agents, supports CFCE training by providing volunteer coaching SOUTHFIELD, Mich., May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Computer Forensics (CCF) announced today that it will be lending Ed Moore, one of its examiners, as a volunteer co...

New computer applications allow to classify Iberian pig meat automatically

This release is available in Spanish . Fast identification of animal meat for human consumption is especially interesting as it is a guarantee of quality for consumers and producers. Consumption of Iberian pig meat is traditional in Spain as an exponent of good taste and maximum gastronom...

In computer models and observations, researchers see potential for significant 'red tide' season

The end of April usually brings the first signs of harmful algae in New England waters, and this year, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and North Carolina State University (NC State) are preparing for a potentially big bloom. A combination of abundant beds of al...

Carnegie Mellon develops computer model to study cell membrane dynamics

NEW ORLEANSA cell constantly remodels its fluid membranes to carry out critical tasks, such as recognizing other cells, getting nutrients or sorting proteins. Because membranes are fluid and intrinsically disordered, investigating these and other life-sustaining processes in detail has always...

Improving detection of nuclear smuggling goal of computer model of mechanical engineer

A professor at The University of Texas at Austin has received $1.9 million to expand a computer model that is already helping guide national decisions about placement of devices to detect nuclear smuggling attempts. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided the funds to improve the desi...

MSU researcher helps develop computer game for Ugandan children recovering from cerebral malaria

EAST LANSING, Mich. The computer program Captains Log originally used with individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, brain injuries or learning disabilities is being adapted to rehabilitate Ugandan children who are survivors of cerebral malaria. Michael Boivin, a Mi...

A computer for your mouse!

A new international consortium aimed at linking together the world's databases of mouse genetics the field of research which saw the Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans and Oliver Smithies was launched this week. The Cambridge University scientist leading ...

Primate behavior explained by computer 'agents'

The complex behaviour of primates can be understood using artificially-intelligent computer agents that mimic their actions, shows new research published in a special edition of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B and presented at the BA Festival of Science in York. Scientists us...

New approach builds better proteins inside a computer

With the aid of more than 70,000 home computer users throughout the world, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have, for the first time, accurately predicted the three-dimensional structure of a small, naturally occurring globular protein using only its amino acid sequence. The acco...

Arctic ice retreating more quickly than computer models project

Arctic sea ice is melting at a significantly faster rate than projected by even the most advanced computer models, a new study concludes. The research, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), sh...

Magnetic computer sensors may help study biomolecules

Magnetic switches like those in computers also might be used to manipulate individual strands of DNA for high-speed applications such as gene sequencing, experiments at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggest. As described in a recent paper,* NIST researchers found tha...

Executable biology -- Computer science sheds light on animal development

By applying the techniques of computer engineering to a mechanistic diagram describing the development of the Nematode C. elegans, a group of researchers in Switzerland has been able to tease out what laboratory experiments have not ?how and when the crucial cross-talk between cellular signaling pa...

Cellulose nanocrystal research could lead to new vaccines, computer inks

Maren Roman is taking nanocrystal research to a new level that may lead to a new generation of vaccines and better computer printer ink. The assistant professor in the wood science and forest products department of the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech will be delivering her findings...

What's nature worth? New computer models tell all

Breath in. The air is free. But we'd all agree it's not worthless. So, what's the price tag on benefits provided by nature? In 1997, the University of Vermont's Robert Costanza and his co-authors put the answer at $33 trillion per year in a now-famous paper in the journal Nature. In the decade f...

Pleasing plant shapes explained by new computer model

Flowers are innately beautiful to the human eye, but how does a sunflower achieve its stunning disc of intersecting spirals or a daisy its delicate symmetry? That was the question tackled by University of Calgary computer scientists, who have answered one of biology's enduring questions with an a...

Setting the standard for computer models of life

Biologists are making a concerted effort to catalogue all the molecular components of living things, from the smallest molecules and ions to the genetic code. These 'parts lists' help them to build computer models that simulate living processes. By combining models of simple processes they hope ...

California computer scientists double volume of data in NIH biotech repository

Faster computation of haplotypes provides insight into genetic basis of human diseaseHigh-throughput sequencing of an individual's DNA yields a map of genetic variation which can give clues to the genetic underpinning of human disease. The current technologies collect genotypes, or information fro...

NYU chemists use computer simulation to enhance understanding of DNA transcription

New York University chemists have employed a computer simulation whose results have enhanced scientific understanding of the DNA transcription process. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, appears in the June 7 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Previ...

Large-scale Computer Simulations Reveal New Insights Into Antibiotic Resistance

Novel use of genetic testing methods helped public health officials control and limit the further spread of four outbreaks of foodborne hepatitis A virus in 2003 related to the consumption of green onions, according to a detailed analysis published in the October 15 issue of The Journal of Infectio...

Navigating in the ocean of molecules

... This release is available in German . Tracking down new active agents for cancer or malaria treatment could soon become easier - thanks to a computer program with which researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund aim to facilitate the search for suitable pharmaceuti...

NIH stimulus funding supports Emory biomedical scientists

...ki to study how cardiac imaging can help doctors decide who could benefit from a pacemaker. Deshazer uses magnetic resonance imaging and a specialized computer program to analyze how much blood is flowing through a patient's heart from moment to moment. ...

Scientists find universal rules for food-web stability

...ience. They can either be examined by observing natural environments, or by computer simulations. To enable computer simulations of such systems, scientists often have to make simplifying assu...

Understanding how weeds are resistant to herbicides

...ting these resources in our freezer. When we have an interest in resistance to herbicide A which targets enzyme B, we can go to the freezer, or to the computer and get the sequence of the gene for that enzyme." Tranel said that because waterhemp is in the group of amaranthus weeds, it's a good model for we...

Scary ancient spiders revealed in 3-D models, thanks to new imaging technique

...t Imperial College London have created detailed 3D computer models of two fossilised specimens of ancient crea...to a spider. In the new study, the researchers' computer models reveal that Cryptomartus hindi 's first tw...shing it into their backward-facing mouths. The computer models also revealed that Cryptomartus hindi 's m...

DNA computation gets logical at the Weizmann Institute of Science

...in a few specialized labs, remote from the regular computer user. Nonetheless, Tom Ran and Shai Kaplan, resear...the Weizmann Institute's Biological Chemistry, and computer Science and Applied Mathematics Departments have f...en are mortal) and a fact (Socrates is a man), the computer answered the question 'Is Socrates Mortal?' correc...

UC San Diego engineer provides insights to decades-old DNA squabble

...accessible yet detailed enough to provide insights into its structure and dynamics. By simulating this model under physiological conditions using fast computer algorithms, Arya has provided the first evidence that chromatin does not exist uniquely in solenoid or zigzag forms but rather exhibits a "heteromorph...

Jet-propelled imaging for an ultrafast light source

...t angles give the overlapping views needed for the computer to construct a 3-D image of the structure. It'...simpler is to use the ever-increasing power of the computer which for a lensless imaging system is where most of the functions of a lens reside. computer systems have been developed that infer the orienta...

Nottinghamshire Police First Law Enforcement Agency to Deploy ForensicSoft in United Kingdom

...hamshire Police has one of England's most advanced computer forensics law enforcement programs and we are prou...ideal software tool for first responders and other computer forensic professionals seeking a quick, easy, fore... evidence. Our unique insight into the practice of computer forensics, combined with our innovative research a...

Fujitsu Expands Support for Ethernet Networks With New Additions to XG Switch Product Line

...SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc., a leading supplier of innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals a...ss development, Advanced Technology Group, Fujitsu computer Products of America, Inc. "The Fujitsu 24-port and...

Wildfires set to increase 50 percent by 2050

...ea of forest burned on federal land since 1980 along with weather data from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, to construct a computer model that takes into account the factors that can best predict the area burned in each ecosystem in the western US. Significantly, the research ...

Bioterrorism and disaster preparedness explored in special issue of Medical Decision Making

...bility and Cost of a Mass Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccination Clinic via computer Simulation" This research set out to determine the best way a clinic co...nd that it was possible for the clinic to reach its target and that using a computer simulation could help them determine the most efficient use of staff, machi...

Results of national assessment of first responder location systems to be announced Aug. 3

...that will save lives," says R. James Duckworth, professor of electrical and computer engineering at WPI and co-leader of the PPL program. The report on the n...way out of the building," notes David Cyganski, professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-leader of the WPI PPL team. "While we have made consider...

DOE-funded research projects win 46 R&D 100 Awards for 2009

...m with Pulsed Filtered Cathodic Arc Technology a system that promises more computer memory at less cost by depositing thin films of diamond-like carbon required by next-generation computer hard-disk heads. (Jointly with Veeco Instruments, Inc.) TEAM Electron ...

Early detection and quick response are key to defense against anthrax attack

...quick detection and treatment are essential, and any delay beyond three days would overwhelm hospitals with critically ill people. The results of a computer simulation study appear in the July/August edition of the journal Medical Decision Making -- one of two studies by Dr. Nathaniel Hupert of Weill Cor...