CSHL Computational Cell Biology Course

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spg Hbr NY

Investigators

Abstract

Computational Cell Biology will be a three week course which will incorporate a series of didactic lectures on the mathematics of dynamical systems, computational simulation techniques, cell biology and molecular biology by leaders in the respective fields. The field of Computational Cell Biology encompasses several topics that have been studied long enough to be well established in their own right such as calcium signaling, molecular motors and cell motility, the cell cycle, and gene expression during development. In addition to providing a recognizable larger community for topics such as these, this course will provide a base for the development of newer areas of inquiry--for example the dynamics of intracellular second-messenger signaling, of programmed cell death, of mitotic chromosome movements, and of synthetic gene networks. Unlike computational genomics or bioinformatics, computational cell biology is focused on simulation of the molecular machinery (genes-proteins-metabolites) that underlie the physiological behavior (input-output characteristics) of living cells. Such complete and in-depth training in this emerging discipline is currently unavailable elsewhere. Computational cell biology is the field of study that applies the mathematics of dynamical systems together with computer simulation techniques to the study of cellular processes. Just in the past decade there has been an explosion of research aimed at creating mathematical models of the processes that occur inside living cells. Without such models it will be impossible to understand the remarkably complicated interactions of components that allow cells to function. We are now at the point where we can begin to move Computational Cell Biology from relatively obscure laboratory research done by specialists to the realm of the textbook. In other words, the pioneers that have had to figure out how to do this work themselves can begin to teach it to graduate students and other trainees in a format that the community of specialists agrees is appropriate. The development of such a course--really the first of its kind--represents an important milestone in the evolution of Computational Cell Biology as a field of study. Students will leave the course having been exposed to a diversity of examples of cutting edge research in the field demonstrated by worlds' experts. Faculty members will leave the course both with an example of how to communicate this material at their own institutions and having had the opportunity to live together and participate in informal discussions about the material, the future of the field, and potential collaborations. While it is called a "summer course," in reality Computational Cell Biology will be a teaching and learning laboratory and a research incubator. It is completely appropriate that the National Science Foundation nurture this cutting edge field of science, and the investment will pay many dividends well beyond mere education going forward.