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Science | DOI: 10.1145/2591230 Samuel Greengard
How Computers Are
Changing Biology
Sophisticated computer models and simulations
are replacing test tubes and beakers. This revolution in biology
research is redefining medicine, agriculture, and more.
IT IS NO SECRET that computer modeling is changing science. The ability to extract meaning- ful information from huge data sets and build sophisticated
models is altering everything from astronomy to quantum physics. Yet, perhaps no discipline is witnessing more
tangible benefits from computer modeling than biology.
“There is an incredible amount of
valuable information embedded in
biological systems,” observes Michael
Levitt, a Stanford University professor
of structural biology. “Precise mol-
ecules and powerful computers are in
many ways made for each other.”
Levitt, part of a trio that captured
the 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry,
sees a biological world transformed by
computers. Over the last few decades,
he says, biologists have moved from
hands-on experiments to increasingly
complex computer models and simula-
tions. They have unlocked the human
genome and identified previously un-
known side effects in pharmaceutical
drugs. Now, researchers are plugging
in this knowledge to design artificial
organs and revolutionize everything
from medicine to food science. Suffice
A Symmetric Dimer of Dimers puzzle, in which the goal is to find the best way of folding the
protein (in color) so it binds best with its three grey copies.
