Recipient Organization
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
2229 Lincoln Way
AMES,IA 50011
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This symposium will bring together prominent researchers working in Systems Biology from a broad range of perspectives. The symposium will provide a landmark opportunity for experimental and computational scientists and engineers to meet and interact in the context of a major international meeting focusing on multi-scale modeling Systems Biology. It will also provide the opportunity for students and younger researchers to gain a working knowledge of the current state of the field and the researchers who are expanding it. In keeping with the format of this series, the symposium will feature plenary presentations by ~16 internationally prominent scientists. Additional short presentations will be selected from submitted abstracts of registrants. The program will also include poster sessions and social activities, and abstracts will be available on the internet to promote dissemination of information. These activities and the informal atmosphere are intended to promote interactions and discussions among participants.
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
90%
Applied
10%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
This symposium will bring together prominent researchers working in Systems Biology from a broad range of perspectives. The symposium will provide a landmark opportunity for experimental and computational scientists and engineers to meet and interact in the context of a major international meeting focusing on multi-scale modeling Systems Biology. It will also provide the opportunity for students and younger researchers to gain a working knowledge of the current state of the field and the researchers who are expanding it. In keeping with the format of this series, the symposium will feature plenary presentations by ~16 internationally prominent scientists. Additional short presentations will be selected from submitted abstracts of registrants. The program will also include poster sessions and social activities, and abstracts will be available on the internet to promote dissemination of information. These activities and the informal atmosphere are intended to promote interactions and discussions among participants.
Project Methods
Systems biology is an exciting, emerging discipline at the interface of biological and informational sciences. Over the past several decades, biologists have been accumulating detailed knowledge of the building blocks of biological systems e.g., DNA, RNA, genes, proteins, cells, tissues, organs, organisms, and ecologies. Anatomical, physiological, molecular, cellular, and structural approaches to biology have transformed our understanding of how living things function. However, progress has been limited by the instruments of observation and our ability to synthesize information across disciplines and across scales. Biological systems are more than simply a collection of molecules or cells or organs. We need to understand how the parts work together to form dynamic functional units to improve animal and plant phenotypes and traits through genomics. Building, simulating, and validating the predictions of such models requires observational as well as experimental data at multiple scales and under a broad range of perturbations as well as mathematical and computational tools and high performance computing infrastructure to analyze and interpret massive amounts of disparate data. Computer scientists, control theorists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists being drawn to biology are developing mathematical and computational tools that address these challenges and are empowering biologists to advance the frontiers of their respective disciplines. Physical and mathematical scientists, computer scientists, and engineers, in collaboration with experimental biologists, are developing new high throughput data acquisition technologies, allowing us to obtain data on an unprecedented scale. The emerging field of systems biology combines the experimental approach and the tools and results of system and control theory. The result is a transformation of biology, much like the transformation of physics nearly two centuries ago, from a descriptive science into a predictive science. The topics will be germane to people interested in the discovery, mechanisms and implications of systems-level analysis and modeling from both fundamental and applied perspectives. Thus, we expect significant participation and support from researchers in the livestock and crop improvement industries, including those from local companies such as Pioneer HiBred, Monsanto, Syngenta, Monsanto Choice Genetics, PIC, and Genus. In addition, because Systems Biology cuts across disciplines ranging from computer science, mathematics and statistics, to cell and developmental biology, to chemical and bioengineering, we expect to attract scientists from a wide array of disciplines. Because of the diverse participation, this meeting will facilitate the exchange of information and ideas and will encourage participants to reach out in new directions and establish new collaborations. Inclusion of a broad mix of principle investigators, postdocs and students simultaneously provides an outstanding educational experience for all involved.