Computational Biosciences

Computational studies of biological and biochemical systems at McMaster span a wide spectrum of approaches from molecular biology to population dynamics, and use a wide range of methods including statistical modeling, evolutionary algorithms, differential equations and nonlinear optimization. Many practical applications arise within this area, including drug design and gene sequencing for disease identification.

At the molecular level, the McMaster Institute for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MOBIX) is a world-class centre with a particular strength, among others, in Evolutionary and Genomics Biotechnology. Several researchers at McMaster are using computational models to investigate the following:

• Mathematical and computational epidemiology (Dr. Earn, Premier Research Award Recipient, Dr. Dushoff)
• Protein and gene structure and function (Dr. Golding, Canada Research Chair; Dr. Stone, SHARCNET Chair and Associate Director of the Origins Institute; Dr. Zhorov)
• Biophysics and molecular evolution research (Dr. Higgs, Canada Research Chair)
• Neural network models (Dr. Becker; Dr. Bruce, Barber-Gennum Chair, Dr. Murphy)
• Information-theoretic signal processing models (Dr. Sekuler, Canada Research Chair)
• Electro-mechanical function of the heart muscle (Dr. Jeremic)
• Neuro-imaging analysis and modeling (Dr. Murphy, Dr. Sekuler)
• Medical imaging (Dr. Anand)
• Evolutionary dynamics in animal behavior (Dr. Earn, Premier Research Award Recipient)

The field of Computational Biosciences will enhance the fragmented interactions between the individual researchers and will provide substantial opportunities for graduate students to profit from varied expertise and make lasting contributions to this area.