BNMC seminar:  In-silico Truth and Beauty of Biological Systems: An Engineer's Perspective

Petros Koumoutsakos
Chair of Computational Science, ETH-Zurich; Visitor in E&AS, Caltech

I will discuss an engineer's perspective in the formulation of in silico models for biological systems. The discussion will be based on a number of biological problems including FRAP simulations in an image reconstructed Endoplasmic Reticulum, tumor induced angiogenesis and the reverse engineering of stochastic models for in-vivo virus transport on microtubules.

The simulations of these systems will be in turn analyzed in terms of validation possibilities and computational requirements.

I will argue no more than that truth and beauty are two empowering principles that are common in disciplines such as engineering and biology.