Tools for Discovery: Frans de Waal
For renowned primatologist Frans de Waal, observation tops the list of skills vital to his work.
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.
New Theory Suggests Alternate Path Led to Rise of the Eukaryotic Cell
A bold new idea of how the eukaryotic cell and, by extension, all complex life came to be is giving scientists an opportunity to reexamine some of biology’s key dogma.
Printing without Boundaries: Transdisciplinary Partnerships Expand Uses for 3D Printers
Four different disciplines, four different uses of 3D printers. WID collaborators provide a glimpse into the revolutionary, unusual and downright cool ways 3D printing is influencing all types of research.
Tools for Discovery: Rock Mackie
Thomas “Rock” Mackie, WID partner at the Morgridge Institute for Research, shares his essentials for success in engineering. Topping his list? Excellent collaborators and team members.
Computation Research Unearths Math Behind Consensus in Some Groups
Algorithms live well beyond cyberspace, with human and animal social groups using them in hierarchies and power structures. In a new analysis, C4 researchers have started to explain why certain algorithms are successful at measuring consensus in groups.
The Next Bright Idea: Microbe-Powered ‘Biobulb’ Earns WID Students Spot in Popular Science Magazine Competition
Creating energy solutions for communities throughout the world poses serious challenges, but a group of WID Frontier Fellows thinks its alternative idea has a bright future.
Tools for Discovery: Sushmita Roy
Systems Biology scientist Sushmita Roy finds and predicts trends in biological networks. Her toolkit includes computer science programs, blogs and other bright minds in the Discovery Building.
‘Starry Night’ or Viral Infection?
Resembling a dotted, night sky constellation, fluorescent speckled cells help Systems Biology researchers track a viral spread.