CECAM Workshop on Modeling Cellular Life: From single molecules to cellular function

Date	Di, 19.08.2014 - Fr, 22.08.2014
Time
Speaker
Location	Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire (CECAM), EPF Lausanne
Program	CECAM (Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire) is a European organization devoted to the promotion of fundamental research on advanced computational methods and to their application to important problems in frontier areas of science and technology. Being able to model and understand the emergence of cellular life from a cell’s components is a formidable challenge that is at the forefront of many research group’s efforts. Addressing this challenge requires that a range of computational tools, from quantum mechanics to systems biology, be brought to bear to answer questions at the different spatial and time scales relevant to cellular life. Developing new computational and theoretical methods and applying existing methods in new ways are all crucial components to making progress in this area. Success in this field holds the promise of providing fundamental insights into molecular and cellular biology and of opening up new research avenues in the fields of biomedicine, synthetic biology and biotechnology. The purpose of this conference, titled “Modeling Cellular Life: From single molecules to cellular function”, is to provide a snapshot of the research efforts being made on multiple fronts to provide quantitative insights and predictions about cellular life. Methods that will be highlighted at this conference include quantum mechanical calculations that probe the chemical reactions that drive the cell’s macromolecular machines (1,2); coarse-grained models that allow us to understand the behavior of protein and nucleic acid assemblies (3-8); all-atom simulations that explore structural mechanisms essential to the transport of molecules within the cell (9-11); mathematical models coupled with experimental data sets that make testable predictions about the response of cells to changing environmental conditions (12-16); bioinformatic methods that utilize genomic and proteomic information to gain insight into the dynamics of cellular life (17-19); and systems biology methods that are integrating high-throughput data sets with theory to predict how cells grow and behave (20-22). This conference is timely because new computing resources and methods are allowing the scientific community to model aspects of the cell that were previously intractable. This conference is needed because it will bring together scientists from sub-disciplines that do not regularly interact with each other. Therefore this conference will provide the opportunity for attendees to hear about new perspectives and methods on topics of common interest, providing synergistic and cross-fertilization opportunities for their research.
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Link	CECAM