Understanding cell behavior can help in many situations. The Department of Defense (DOD), for example, is interested in how bacteria multiply, contaminate things, and survive adverse conditions. "All these processes have molecular bases," Tyson said. "If you want to get rid of harmful bacteria or re-engineer helpful ones, you must understand how the underlying molecular machinery works. To do this, we need the kind of simulation environment promised by BioSPICE."
The DOD also is interested in the daily rhythms that control sleep and wakefulness. "Theres a molecular basis for our circadian rhythm, and it seriously impairs effectiveness when people cross time zones, do night work, or stay up for long periods of time," Tyson said. "The DOD is interested in improving human performance under such adverse conditions." The DOD is also interested, for obvious reasons, in the molecular mechanisms behind wound healing and the regeneration of nerve tissue, he said.
About 15 other universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, Caltech, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Boston University, plus private companies, are involved in the program. The teams will collaborate to build software tools and models that will be useful because they are developed in the context of real research problems.
SRI of Stanford, Cal., will carry out the projects fourth phase, systems integration. "Their job is to pull together the models and software developed by other teams and put
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Contact: John Tyson
tyson@vt.edu
540-231-4662
Virginia Tech
7-Mar-2002