Computer models Content

Using Machine Learning to Detect Coronavirus Threats

Andy Fell — July 25, 2023 - 3:17pm

An artificial intelligence model has successfully identified coronaviruses capable of infecting humans, out of the thousands of viruses that circulate in wild animals. The model, developed by a team of biologists, mathematicians and physicists at the University of California, Davis, could be used in surveillance for new pandemic threats. The work was published June 8 in Scientific Reports.

NIH Director’s Award to Develop Framework to Pinpoint Disease-Causing Genetic Mutations

Andy Fell — October 05, 2021 - 11:30am

NIH Award supports computational work linking genetics to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other conditions

Grant to Model Human Memory and Learning for Machines

Andy Fell — April 27, 2017 - 10:33pm

Much of what scientists know about human memory comes from studies involving relatively simple acts of recollection — remembering lists of words or associations between names and faces.

However, they know very little about the brain networks that support memories for complex events, like when we remember the plot of a book or movie or what we experienced, thought and felt during a childhood birthday party.

Ice Surface Melts One Step at a Time

Andy Fell — December 14, 2016 - 9:45am

For a solid, ice is slippery stuff, even well below its freezing point. Victorian scientist Michael Faraday discovered over 150 years ago that ice is coated with a thin layer of liquid, which both makes ice slippery and contributes to chemical reactions at the surface. Now, researchers in Germany, the U.S. and Japan have used a combination of experiments and computer modeling to show how this “quasi-liquid layer” forms as layers of the ice crystal melt.

Computer Model Is ‘Crystal Ball’ for E. Coli Bacteria

Andy Fell — October 27, 2016 - 10:46am

It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, and even more so when they involve the reactions of living cells — huge numbers of genes, proteins and enzymes, embedded in complex pathways and feedback loops. Yet researchers at the University of California, Davis, Genome Center and Department of Computer Science are attempting just that, building a computer model that predicts the behavior of a single cell of the bacterium Escherichia coli.

The results of their work were published Oct. 7 in the journal Nature Communications.