News
Life Sciences group news
Cells’ own contractions stimulate growth orientation
During the growth of embryos cells align with forces from the surrounding tissue. These forces originate from differences in growth rates, muscle contractions or gravity. Mathematicians at the CWI research centre in Amsterdam now showed for the first time that active cell contractions can accelerate and facilitate this reorientation of cells. Their research was recently published in the leading Biophysical Journal (112).
Shape instructs future fate of cells in Nature Communications
How does a cell make a decision about his future, on what type of cell it will be after the cell division? This process is described by Roeland Merks and Cong Chen of the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam in an article in Nature Communications that was published on 28 June, together with a Japanese team of biologists.
ERCIM News 104 on Big Data in Life Sciences co-coordinated by Roeland Merks
ERCIM News No. 104 was published in January 2016 at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en104
Netherlands eScience Center grants two projects at CWI
CWI develops new techniques for studying vascular growth
Blood vessels are essential for efficient transport of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, and play a crucial role in tumor growth and wound healing. Sonja Boas, PhD student in CWI's Life Sciences group, developed new techniques to study vascular growth computationally.
TimoTimo computes the fastest biological routes
PhD student Timo Maarleveld of CWI has developed new computer algorithms that improve the speed and acurateness of biological computer simulations. He defends his thesis on Thursday 17 December at the VU University Amsterdam.
CWI and VU develop algorithms for pharmaceutical research
In their search for new drugs, researchers increasingly use computer simulations to discover and test new molecules for pharmaceutical use. This does not only increase the chance of finding new or better drugs, but also prevents wasting resources on unsuccessful experiments.
New network model can learn to remember past events
Scientists understand how neurons, the smallest computational units of the brain, behave during tasks, but how brains learn to make efficient choices is unknown, in particular when the brain’s working memory is involved.
CWI to improve ICT for radiotherapy
CWI launches a research project with the Academic Medical Center (AMC) and the company Elekta Brachytherapy to improve the ICT that is used in radiotherapy for cancer patients. In the next years, researchers of these organizations will investigate the improvement of medical software and instruments that are used for internal radiation.
New mathematical models predict success rate of drug trials
A large part of drug trials fail when it turns out that the results for laboratory animals do not transfer to humans (1). New mathematical models developed at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) are able to predict the transferability of results between different organisms.
Mohammed El-Kebir receives BioSB Young Investigator Award
Mohammed El-Kebir of CWI’s Life Sciences group has been awarded the BioSB Young Investigator Award for best PhD thesis in the field of bioinformatics and systems biology in the Netherlands.
AMC, KiKa and CWI join forces in new research project
The Foundation Children Cancer free (Stichting Kinderen Kankervrij), the Department of Radiation Oncology of the Academic Medical Center (AMC) and the research group Life Sciences of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) join forces in a new research project to survey radiation-related long-term effects more accurately than ever before.
Inaugural lecture Roeland Merks at Leiden University
Computer simulations show mechanisms behind vascular development
The vascular system continuously forms new capillaries throughout the life of an organism. This is necessary for growth and healing. The same process is also involved in various pathological processes, such as tumour growth and eye diseases. Computational biologist Margriet Palm of CWI used simulated experiments to investigate vascular development.
Embryos get shape through mechanical interaction between cells
During embryonic development, cells do not only communicate through chemical signals, but also through mechanical forces between the cells. Researchers of CWI and Cornell University in Ithaca (USA) have successfully reproduced the growth of a blood vessel structure solely from mechanical forces.
Nature Genetics article: Genome of the Netherlands developed
In a large-scale research project under supervision of University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) researchers have developed a genetic profile of the Netherlands. The researchers have mapped the DNA sequences of 250 family trios, consisting of two parents and one child, across the Netherlands.
CWI researchers in European RETHINK big project
Every two days, we create the equivalent of all the data generated throughout human history up until 2003. The intelligent use of this data shows enormous potential for generating new knowledge and other related benefits for business, science and society.
Roeland Merks appointed professor at Leiden University
As of January 15, 2014, Roeland Merks of the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam was appointed Professor Multiscale Mathematical Biology at the Mathematical Institute in Leiden.
Researchers develop model for hollowing of blood vessels
Researchers Sonja Boas and Roeland Merks from the Life Sciences group at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam, have developed a new computational model that simulates the hollowing of blood vessels.
Major contribution CWI to RECOMB 2014
Origin of tropical pathogen C. gattii traced to the Amazon
Researchers of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) took part in a large-scale research project, led by Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (KNAW), that traced the journey of the tropical pathogen Cryptococcus gattii, which recently emerged in North America, Australia and the Mediterranean.
Vidi grant for Alexander Schönhuth and Matthias Christandl
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Vidi grants to Alexander Schönhuth and Matthias Christandl.
Inken Wohlers defends thesis on protein structure comparison
Brain mechanisms better understood with new model
Building a neural network with the same properties and capacity as the human brain is the holy grail in neuroinformatics. Such a network would not only explain the inner workings of the brain, but would also pave the road for brain-controlled machines such as computers operated by thought and robot limbs for the handicapped.
CWI simulates brain activity on video cards
Neuroinformaticists of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam managed to simulate complex brain activity on simple video cards. The simulated brain contains 50,000 neurons communicating with 35 million signals per second. This is comparable to the brain capacity of insects such as ants or flies.
CWI builds online application for protein comparison
Researchers of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam have developed a new method to compare proteins. This enables biologists to discover the function of new proteins more efficiently.
Gunnar Klau Extraordinary Professor at VU University Amsterdam
As of 1 July 2012, Gunnar Klau is instated as Extraordinary Professor of Bioinformatics and Operations Research at VU University Amsterdam.
New computer techniques speed up drug research
A computer algorithm developed by bioinformaticists at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam speeds up simulations predicting the effect of drugs on the human body. This allows pharmaceutical researchers to discover new drugs more quickly.
Early genetic code very resistant to mutation
Researchers of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam show that the genetic code is remarkably resistant to DNA replication errors. This might explain the success of the common ancestor of all life, who 3,5 billion years ago developed the genetic code that resides in every organism.
Model of CWI and Wageningen University helps to explain flower growth
