Tag: complex biological systems
A living system, like any complex entity, is more than the sum of its parts. It can be as simple as a virus or as complex as an ecosystem. Researchers at WID aspire to gain an understanding of how such systems function, as well as how they adapt to and shape their environments over different time scales.
An interdisciplinary group of engineers, computer scientists, physicists, and evolutionary biologists take a multi-pronged approach to understanding living systems. We develop and combine experimental and computational methods to study diverse problems, ranging from interactions between organisms (e.g., between hosts and pathogens, and within diverse microbial communities) and interaction networks within organisms (e.g., regulatory and metabolic interactions). A common theme to complex biological systems research at WID is to view these systems through the lens of evolution.
Jakob Meyer
Looking for other possibilities for the origins of life that isn't a spontaneous cell formation
WID Seeks Machine Learning and “Fluxomics” Hires
WID seeks to add to its roster of excellent faculty with two new hires in emerging cutting-edge fields.
WID Hubs Launch at Illuminating Connections Event
WID’s new hubs—Data Science, Multi-Omics, and Illuminating Discovery—represent a new path forward for collaborative research projects and fields.
Erika Da-Inn Lee
Developing computational tools to learn the principles of genome organization
Could Yesterday’s Earth Contain Clues for Making Tomorrow’s Medicines?
WID’s John Yin and colleagues have described initial steps toward achieving chemistries that encode information in a variety of conditions that might mimic the environment of prehistoric Earth.
Jacky Tian
Development of motor neurons derived from human stem cells via sectioning, staining, and microscopy
Molly Carroll
Application of computational models to predict cancer prognostics from proteomics and secretomics
Fast Evolution Unlocks Forbidden Communities
Writing in Nature Ecology & Evolution, WID’s Seyfullah Kotil and Kalin Vetsigian uncover an assembly mechanism that can lead to the spontaneous formation of microbial communities.
Micah Dombroe
Lab Manager
Genomic DNA sequencing and viral production. Facilitate various administrative functions.
The Big Dig: Tiny Earth Studentsources Antibiotic Discovery
From On Wisconsin Magazine: UW-Madison students are joining the hunt for new antibiotics in their introductory biology coursework and becoming part of the Tiny Earth network, based at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
Scientists Discovered How PCK1 Gene Is Involved In Diabetes and Metastasis in Some Types of Cancer
An international team of researchers including WID scientists has discovered new mechanisms to regulate the activity of a gene essential in metabolism, with implications for pathologies related to alterations in glucose levels in the body, such as diabetes or metastasis in some types of cancer.
Students Search for New Antibiotics in Initiative that Brings Real Science to Classrooms
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: At a recent training event, teachers from Milwaukee Public Schools were joined by a teacher from New York Public Schools, a middle school teacher from Oak Creek, and even a researcher planning to bring the program back to his home university in India.
Combining On and Off Switches, One Protein Can Control Flowering in Plants
With Wisconsin’s short growing seasons, reducing a plant’s life cycle and completing the season earlier “could be very important for many crops.”
Data Science Initiative Supports Faculty Research at UW–Madison
Ten highly innovative projects have been chosen to receive University of Wisconsin–Madison Data Science Initiative funding, including two led by Wisconsin Institute for Discovery investigators.
Brian Yandell
Professor
Co-lead of Data Science Hub (datascience.wisc.edu). Research on systems genetics.
Wisconsin Institute for Discovery to Host Conference Addressing Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis
Tiny Earth’s 2018 symposium will feature experts on the front lines of the antimicrobial resistance crisis.
WID Researchers Looking to the Future with UW2020 Awards
Investigators from WID are among the recipients of the latest round of UW2020 awards.
Jo Handelsman
WID Director
Genetic and biochemical processes underlying interactions within plant and human microbiomes.
Kinetic Modeling of Virus Growth in Cells
A new paper in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews describes how the steps of virus reproduction contribute to timing and productivity of cell infection.
UW Carbone Scientists Present at Annual Cancer Research Conference
One of the UW Carbone Cancer Center members presenting is WID’s Peter Lewis. His work focuses on how genes are turned on and off during embryonic development, and how misregulation in those genes can lead to some childhood cancers.
Undergraduate Nathan Wang Receives Goldwater Scholarship
The scholarship recognizes promising undergraduates who plan to pursue a PhD or MD/PhD followed by a research career in engineering, mathematics, or the natural sciences.