Lawrence Hunter, Ph.D., Director Computational Bioscience Program UCHSC School of Medicine Mathematics and Post-Genomic Biology
Biology has changed Biology is on the popular mind more than chemistry & physics these days Students don’t choose to study biology because they “like science but not the math” anymore...
Data Poor → Data Rich Not long ago, it could take a lifetime to gather even a small dataset relevant to understanding a living system… Growth of PDB
Post-Genomic Instruments High throughput SNP genotyping automation $0.01/SNP and dropping fast Expression array “chips” 15,000+ genes/chip at $500/chip (and falling!) LC/MS/MS proteomics Gigabyte / day of spectra!
Biology’s “New Math” Calculus matters, but less than in physics or chemistry… Discrete math has a dramatically more important role, e.g. in sequence analysis and genetics Due to its less “law-like” nature, understanding statistical inference is a critical basic skill for nearly all biology
Lots of REAL data available free on the web Students can do REAL scientific projects metacyc.org
Great Web Resources
New relevance opportunities Based on news stories –Gene discoveries –Crime / DNA identification –Epidemics Related to teen concerns –Genetics and sports / beauty –HIV / AIDS –Drugs, alcohol & tobacco
Graphs & Cycles Molecular biology is inherently network-y –Metabolism, Signaling and Regulatory networks –Functional/Semantic links –Evolutionary relationships Other levels, too –Global carbon cycles –Neurons & synapses
Genomic Combinations Humans have 40,877 proteins (a total of 18,311,133 amino acids); If the 20 characters are randomly distributed, what is the probability of seeing any particular 4 letter sequence? An 11 letter one?
Drugs and Receptors Geometry of interactions Receptor binding and pharmacodynamics Drug trials, safety and data interpretation HIV protease bound to Ritonavir
Teamwork Team science is growing in importance. Teams can work in teaching, too. –Coordination between teachers of math and biology – Student teams doing complementary problems –Researcher / industry partnerships with schools, students and teachers
You have a critical role! Good jobs are available for people with math and biology skills, at all levels –Health care, especially nursing –Biotech industry –Pharmaceuticals & pharmacists Math/bio is an increasingly important competence for consumers & citizens –Informed patients get better health care –Public debates on epidemics, genetic modifications, etc.