Content about Biology and genomics

Feature - Medical Research on the Erasmus Computing Grid A simulated view of the three-dimensional architecture of genetic material as it appears in a human cell nucleus. Colors signify different chromosomes.Image courtesy of Tobias A. Knoch, Erasmus Medical CenterLarge portions of our DNA, it seems, serve no apparent purpose. Researchers in the field of genomics, however, are interested in all sections and levels of organization of an organism’s DNA—from the DNA sequence to the overall morphology of a cell nucleus. Scientists in the Biophysical Genomics Group in the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics at Erasmus Medical Center in The Netherlands believe that the genome has much to tell us. A consortium of researchers, using the new Erasmus Computing Grid, seek to determine the three-dimensional structure of the human genome. They hope that looking at the shape of all our genetic material as a whole will give us a more complete understanding of how our bodies maintain and reproduce themselves. “We would l

Feature - Grids Aid Battle Against Cancer A digital image such as this one, showing lesions in a patient's liver, can now be distributed among participating hospitals through a grid. Image courtesy of Ignacio BlanquerSpanish medical staff in the region of Valencia have a new weapon in the arsenal against cancer. In January, a team of medical and computing researchers launched a grid-enabled infrastructure that shares oncological studies, digital images and reports among five hospitals in the Valencia region.“In the field of oncology, quantification is very important for diagnosis,” says Ignacio Blanquer, associate professor of computer science and researcher in the High Performance Computing and Networking Group, at Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Spain. “The more information the radiologist has at hand, the more objective and accurate the diagnosis.” On March 22, the team Blanquer works with, led by Vicente Hernandez, will present the deployment of CVIMO, the Valencian Cyberi

Feature: Unlocking Secrets of the HeartA volumetric heart model created from a surface model received from New York University.Image courtesy of the Computational Visualization Center, University of Texas at Austin Mathematical models of hearts may not be the most romantic of things, but to patients at risk for vascular disease they hold much more promise than a box of chocolates. Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin combine images of people’s hearts and arteries with mathematical modeling techniques to simulate the interaction between blood flow and the walls of the heart and arteries. The goal of the project is to help physicians better predict the onset of vascular disease and evaluate treatment plans for affected patients.“Our work is focused on the development of patient specific models. We use material- and flow-related data from the literature, but by imaging a person, we capture his or her geometry,” says Victor Calo, a postdoctoral fellow in the team from the Institute for Computational Engin

Link of the Week: Genome Comparison on the World Community Grid

Image credit World Community Grid

The World Community Grid, which uses public computing resources to tackle projects that benefit humanity, launched its first cooperative project with South American scientists in November. The Genome Comparison project, a collaboration between World Community Grid and the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Fiocruz, Brazil, will compare genomic information to improve the quality and interpretation of biological data and our understanding of biological systems, host-pathogen and environmental interactions. This information can play a critical role in the development of better drugs and vaccines and improved diagnostic procedures.