Computing and Communicationsand

Biology

Molecular Communication; Biological Communications Technology WorkshopArlington, VA

20 February 2008

Jeannette M. WingAssistant Director

Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate

CISE and NSF-wide Activities

• CISE Directorate– Computer and Communications Foundations (CCF) –

Michael Foster– Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS)

• Signaling and Networking• Computational Neuroscience• Networks-in-the-Large• Bioinformatics

• BIO Directorate• Computational Thinking and Biology

Signaling and Networking• Nucleic acid signaling for computation and in vivo network control

expression• Structure elucidation and prediction of

cellular communication channels• Structure of ion channel gating proteins• Biological network prediction and

control element identification • Nanotube communication systems and sensors• Coding by molecules for control in computing and biological

systems

Credit: University of new Mexico

Credit: Nature.com

Computational Neuroscience• Neural basis for word recognition• Data sharing collaborative neuroscience• Neural code of vision and the visual brain• Statistical models of brain

• Neural basis of novelty recognition• Evolutionary studies of biological network complexity• Gene/protein expression analysis in brain• Recognition of mood, attitude, relationship in groups• Biological basis of language

Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience(CRCNS; NSF 08-514): joint program with NIH

Credit: Wikimedia

Credit: Nature.com

Networks-in-the-Large• Social network analysis for identifying communication

patterns and key individuals in humans and other animals• Food web signally analysis in ecological systems

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BIO Directorate

• “Biology is an Information Science” – Dr. Jim Collins, BIO AD

• Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB)– Cellular Systems Cluster

• Signal Transduction Panel

• Example interest: Role of communication in natural communities of microbes, e.g., those associated in sponges, marine snow, in soils, to understand the interacting gene networks in such systems.

National Academies(CSTB and DEPS) Study 2005

Computational Thinking and Biology

Computer Science in Biology - Shotgun algorithm expedites sequencing of human genome - DNA sequences are strings in a language - Protein structures can be modeled as knots - Protein kinetics can be modeled as computational processes - Cells as a self-regulatory system are like electronic circuits

11 × 01 =11 × 10 =11 × 11 =

(3×1=3) (3×2=6) (3×3=9)

01 × 01 =

(1×1=1)

01 × 10 =

(1×2=2)

C. DNA Calculator (Macdonald) Biology in Computer Science - Molecular machines - DNA Calculators - Nanotube communication and sensors - <Your great ideas go here!>

Credit: Wikimedia

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