Modern biology is rapidly becoming a study of large sets of data. Understanding these data sets is a major challenge for most life sciences, including the medical, environmental, and bioprocess fields. Computational biology approaches are essential for leveraging this ongoing revolution in omics data. A primary goal of this Special Issue, entitled “Methods in Computational Biology”, is the communication of computational biology methods, which can extract biological design principles from complex data sets, described in enough detail to permit the reproduction of the results. This issue integrates interdisciplinary researchers such as biologists, computer scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to advance biological systems analysis. The Special Issue contains the following sections: • Reviews of Computational Methods • Computational Analysis of Biological Dynamics: From Molecular to Cellular to Tissue/Consortia Levels • The Interface of Biotic and Abiotic Processes • Processing of Large Data Sets for Enhanced Analysis • Parameter Optimization and Measurement
This second edition book provides complete coverage of the computational approaches currently used in Synthetic Biology. New chapters detail computational methods and algorithms for the design of bio-components, insight on CAD programs, analysis techniques, and distributed systems. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, application details for both the expert and non-expert reader, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Computational Methods in Synthetic Biology, Second Edition aims to feature a broad overview of the research areas that can be met in the area of in silico Synthetic Biology.
The future of cancer research and the development of new therapeutic strategies rely on our ability to convert biological and clinical questions into mathematical models—integrating our knowledge of tumour progression mechanisms with the tsunami of information brought by high-throughput technologies such as microarrays and next-generation sequencing. Offering promising insights on how to defeat cancer, the emerging field of systems biology captures the complexity of biological phenomena using mathematical and computational tools. Novel Approaches to Fighting Cancer Drawn from the authors’ decade-long work in the cancer computational systems biology laboratory at Institut Curie (Paris, France), Computational Systems Biology of Cancer explains how to apply computational systems biology approaches to cancer research. The authors provide proven techniques and tools for cancer bioinformatics and systems biology research. Effectively Use Algorithmic Methods and Bioinformatics Tools in Real Biological Applications Suitable for readers in both the computational and life sciences, this self-contained guide assumes very limited background in biology, mathematics, and computer science. It explores how computational systems biology can help fight cancer in three essential aspects: Categorising tumours Finding new targets Designing improved and tailored therapeutic strategies Each chapter introduces a problem, presents applicable concepts and state-of-the-art methods, describes existing tools, illustrates applications using real cases, lists publically available data and software, and includes references to further reading. Some chapters also contain exercises. Figures from the text and scripts/data for reproducing a breast cancer data analysis are available at www.cancer-systems-biology.net.
This comprehensively revised second edition of Computational Systems Biology discusses the experimental and theoretical foundations of the function of biological systems at the molecular, cellular or organismal level over temporal and spatial scales, as systems biology advances to provide clinical solutions to complex medical problems. In particular the work focuses on the engineering of biological systems and network modeling. - Logical information flow aids understanding of basic building blocks of life through disease phenotypes - Evolved principles gives insight into underlying organizational principles of biological organizations, and systems processes, governing functions such as adaptation or response patterns - Coverage of technical tools and systems helps researchers to understand and resolve specific systems biology problems using advanced computation - Multi-scale modeling on disparate scales aids researchers understanding of dependencies and constraints of spatio-temporal relationships fundamental to biological organization and function.
Tools and techniques for biological inference problems at scales ranging from genome-wide to pathway-specific. Computational systems biology unifies the mechanistic approach of systems biology with the data-driven approach of computational biology. Computational systems biology aims to develop algorithms that uncover the structure and parameterization of the underlying mechanistic model--in other words, to answer specific questions about the underlying mechanisms of a biological system--in a process that can be thought of as learning or inference. This volume offers state-of-the-art perspectives from computational biology, statistics, modeling, and machine learning on new methodologies for learning and inference in biological networks.The chapters offer practical approaches to biological inference problems ranging from genome-wide inference of genetic regulation to pathway-specific studies. Both deterministic models (based on ordinary differential equations) and stochastic models (which anticipate the increasing availability of data from small populations of cells) are considered. Several chapters emphasize Bayesian inference, so the editors have included an introduction to the philosophy of the Bayesian approach and an overview of current work on Bayesian inference. Taken together, the methods discussed by the experts in Learning and Inference in Computational Systems Biology provide a foundation upon which the next decade of research in systems biology can be built. Florence d'Alch e-Buc, John Angus, Matthew J. Beal, Nicholas Brunel, Ben Calderhead, Pei Gao, Mark Girolami, Andrew Golightly, Dirk Husmeier, Johannes Jaeger, Neil D. Lawrence, Juan Li, Kuang Lin, Pedro Mendes, Nicholas A. M. Monk, Eric Mjolsness, Manfred Opper, Claudia Rangel, Magnus Rattray, Andreas Ruttor, Guido Sanguinetti, Michalis Titsias, Vladislav Vyshemirsky, David L. Wild, Darren Wilkinson, Guy Yosiphon
An introduction to the quantitative modeling of biological processes, presenting modeling approaches, methodology, practical algorithms, software tools, and examples of current research. The quantitative modeling of biological processes promises to expand biological research from a science of observation and discovery to one of rigorous prediction and quantitative analysis. The rapidly growing field of quantitative biology seeks to use biology's emerging technological and computational capabilities to model biological processes. This textbook offers an introduction to the theory, methods, and tools of quantitative biology. The book first introduces the foundations of biological modeling, focusing on some of the most widely used formalisms. It then presents essential methodology for model-guided analyses of biological data, covering such methods as network reconstruction, uncertainty quantification, and experimental design; practical algorithms and software packages for modeling biological systems; and specific examples of current quantitative biology research and related specialized methods. Most chapters offer problems, progressing from simple to complex, that test the reader's mastery of such key techniques as deterministic and stochastic simulations and data analysis. Many chapters include snippets of code that can be used to recreate analyses and generate figures related to the text. Examples are presented in the three popular computing languages: Matlab, R, and Python. A variety of online resources supplement the the text. The editors are long-time organizers of the Annual q-bio Summer School, which was founded in 2007. Through the school, the editors have helped to train more than 400 visiting students in Los Alamos, NM, Santa Fe, NM, San Diego, CA, Albuquerque, NM, and Fort Collins, CO. This book is inspired by the school's curricula, and most of the contributors have participated in the school as students, lecturers, or both. Contributors John H. Abel, Roberto Bertolusso, Daniela Besozzi, Michael L. Blinov, Clive G. Bowsher, Fiona A. Chandra, Paolo Cazzaniga, Bryan C. Daniels, Bernie J. Daigle, Jr., Maciej Dobrzynski, Jonathan P. Doye, Brian Drawert, Sean Fancer, Gareth W. Fearnley, Dirk Fey, Zachary Fox, Ramon Grima, Andreas Hellander, Stefan Hellander, David Hofmann, Damian Hernandez, William S. Hlavacek, Jianjun Huang, Tomasz Jetka, Dongya Jia, Mohit Kumar Jolly, Boris N. Kholodenko, Markek Kimmel, Michał Komorowski, Ganhui Lan, Heeseob Lee, Herbert Levine, Leslie M Loew, Jason G. Lomnitz, Ard A. Louis, Grant Lythe, Carmen Molina-París, Ion I. Moraru, Andrew Mugler, Brian Munsky, Joe Natale, Ilya Nemenman, Karol Nienałtowski, Marco S. Nobile, Maria Nowicka, Sarah Olson, Alan S. Perelson, Linda R. Petzold, Sreenivasan Ponnambalam, Arya Pourzanjani, Ruy M. Ribeiro, William Raymond, William Raymond, Herbert M. Sauro, Michael A. Savageau, Abhyudai Singh, James C. Schaff, Boris M. Slepchenko, Thomas R. Sokolowski, Petr Šulc, Andrea Tangherloni, Pieter Rein ten Wolde, Philipp Thomas, Karen Tkach Tuzman, Lev S. Tsimring, Dan Vasilescu, Margaritis Voliotis, Lisa Weber
This book delivers a comprehensive and insightful account of applying mathematical modelling approaches to very large biological systems and networks—a fundamental aspect of computational systems biology. The book covers key modelling paradigms in detail, while at the same time retaining a simplicity that will appeal to those from less quantitative fields. Key Features: A hands-on approach to modelling Covers a broad spectrum of modelling, from static networks to dynamic models and constraint-based models Thoughtful exercises to test and enable understanding of concepts State-of-the-art chapters on exciting new developments, like community modelling and biological circuit design Emphasis on coding and software tools for systems biology Companion website featuring lecture videos, figure slides, codes, supplementary exercises, further reading, and appendices: https://ramanlab.github.io/SysBioBook/ An Introduction to Computational Systems Biology: Systems-Level Modelling of Cellular Networks is highly multi-disciplinary and will appeal to biologists, engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians and others.
This book is intended for students of computational systems biology with only a limited background in mathematics. Typical books on systems biology merely mention algorithmic approaches, but without offering a deeper understanding. On the other hand, mathematical books are typically unreadable for computational biologists. The authors of the present book have worked hard to fill this gap. The result is not a book on systems biology, but on computational methods in systems biology. This book originated from courses taught by the authors at Freie Universität Berlin. The guiding idea of the courses was to convey those mathematical insights that are indispensable for systems biology, teaching the necessary mathematical prerequisites by means of many illustrative examples and without any theorems. The three chapters cover the mathematical modelling of biochemical and physiological processes, numerical simulation of the dynamics of biological networks and identification of model parameters by means of comparisons with real data. Throughout the text, the strengths and weaknesses of numerical algorithms with respect to various systems biological issues are discussed. Web addresses for downloading the corresponding software are also included.
The availability of molecular imaging and measurement systems enables today's biologists to swiftly monitor thousands of genes involved in a host of diseases, a critical factor in specialized drug development. Systems Biology and Bioinformatics: A Computational Approach provides students with a comprehensive collection of the computational methods
This detailed book provides an overview of various classes of computational techniques, including machine learning techniques, commonly used for evaluating kinetic parameters of biological systems. Focusing on three distinct situations, the volume covers the prediction of the kinetics of enzymatic reactions, the prediction of the kinetics of protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions (binding rates, dissociation rates, binding affinities), and the prediction of relatively large set of kinetic rates of reactions usually found in quantitative models of large biological networks. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include the kind of expert implementation advice that leads to successful results. Authoritative and practical, Computational Methods for Estimating the Kinetic Parameters of Biological Systems will be of great interest for researchers working through the challenge of identifying the best type of algorithm and who would like to use or develop a computational method for the estimation of kinetic parameters.
