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"Sensing and Actuating Life"

 

BME Seminar Series

News

Ivo Sbalzarini, Ph.D.

Senior Research Group Leader
MOSAIC Group
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

Prof. Steve Chase has been selected as a CMU Wimmer Faculty Fellow for 2013-2014, designed for junior faculty members to enhance their teaching through redesigning a course, innovating new materials, or exploring a new pedagogical approach.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
3:00-4:00 PM
6115 Gates-Hillman Center

"Computational Biology with Particle Methods"

Understanding the function of biological systems from the interactions between their constituents requires predictive forward models of hypothetical mechanisms. Given the complexity of biological systems, such forward models are frequently computational, where numerical simulations are used to probe a model's behavior in regimes where it cannot be solved analytically. We review the key differences between biological and engineering applications of numerical simulations and highlight the main challenges in computational data processing and simulation of biological systems. We propose to exploit the unifying algorithmic framework of particle methods to develop numerical simulations, image-processing, and optimization algorithms that meet the challenges of modern biology. We provide examples from our own work, highlighting how methodological advances in scientific computing have enabled new biological insight and progress in computer science alike. The examples include a self-organizing deterministic particle method for the simulation of multi-scale continuum models, a novel class of stochastic simulation algorithms with reduced time complexity, a domain-specific language for particle methods on heterogeneous parallel computer platforms, and a new class of particle-based image segmentation algorithms. This covers the workflow of image-based systems biology, illustrating several analogies and connections between the different fields involved.

 

Seminar Poster
Seminar Series Listing
Scott Hall under Construction!

Check out the newest images and virtual video tour of BME's future home, the Sherman and Joyce Bowie Scott Hall, scheduled for completion in 2015 (see more ...; see also CMU's official Scott Hall page).
Prof. Adam Feinberg received a prestigious Director's New Innovator Award from NIH (see more ...; see also news article in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), as well as the George Tallman Ladd Research Award from CMU's College of Engineering.
Business Manager Keri Baker received the CIT Rookie Award for her outstanding job performance in her first two years as a staff member in BME.

BME undergrads Yang Choo ('14), Jesse Salazar ('13), and Peter Wei ('15) won the Best Foundational Advance Prize at the iGEM Competition’s World Championship Jamboree.  Their project uses synthetic biology to create a fluorescent biosensor for cellular activities (see more…).

Previous News
Graduate student Jennifer Hayden and professors James Antaki and James Burgess received NASA support to test their Aqueous Immersion Surgical System (AISS) aboard the zero-gravity C-9 aircraft at the Johnson Space Center (see more...; see also articles in New Scientist, USA Today, and Houston NPR web site).
BME senior capstone project "ThinAir: A Novel UltraThin Rescue Inhaler for Asthmatics" won Third Place in the 2012 NCIIA BMEStart competition. The device pre-disperses the active ingredient, albuterol sulfate, on a cellulose and polyester cloth, which allows for the medication to reach the effective areas of the lungs while also maintaining a thin device profile (see more ...).

(Updated 05/01/2013)

 

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