Scientists pioneer autonomous robotic method for studying liquids suspended in air

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have used robots and artificial intelligence to dramatically speed up data collection and analysis in X-ray studies of liquids.

Department of Energy Announces $4.7 Million for Research on Integrative Computational Tools for Systems Biology Research

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $4.7 million in funding for five new research projects in computational biology. These projects will develop new software and analytical tools to manage the growing quantities of genomics and other data stemming from the study of microbes and other biological systems.

Researchers use Argonne X-rays to find the best antibodies

Antibody therapies are only effective if the antibodies do what we want them to do. This research can help scientists determine if an antibody is likely to stick to something other than the intended target, which should lessen the amount of time wasted with overly sticky antibodies.

New Computational Tool Identifies Novel Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a computational platform capable of discovering tumor antigens derived from alternative RNA splicing, expanding the pool of cancer immunotherapy targets. The tool, called “Isoform peptides from RNA splicing for Immunotherapy target Screening” (IRIS), was described in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Computational biology superstar Sanju Sinha joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Sanju Sinha, Ph.D., has joined Sanford Burnham Prebys as an assistant professor in the Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program to continue his research on cancer development and drug discovery. He comes to Sanford Burnham Prebys from the Cancer Data Science Lab at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), where he trained to leverage the power of artificial intelligence to discover new drugs to prevent cancer.

New $17 million grant establishes LJI as global hub for immunology data curation and analysis

A new grant of over $17 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has established La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) as the leading institute for human immunology data curation, analysis, and dissemination. With this funding, LJI has taken the helm of the Human Immunology Project Consortium Data Coordinating Center, a critical tool in the effort to fuel scientific collaboration in immunoprofiling and highlight findings from the overall Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC).

Getting to the Heart of Chemotherapeutic Cardiotoxicity

On any given Tuesday, you will find Brian C. Jensen, MD, cardiologist and physician-scientist, tending to patients in his cardio-oncology clinic. His schedule is packed to the brim with cancer patients. But not patients with heart cancer. The largest number of patients he sees are cancer patients who have developed, or are at risk of developing, heart damage in response to their chemotherapy regimens.

Adapting language models to track virus variants

Groundbreaking research by Argonne National Laboratory finds new method to quickly identify COVID-19 virus variants. Their work wins the Gordon Bell Special Prize.

CHOP Researchers Develop New Computational Tool to Interpret Clinical Significance of Cancer Mutations

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed a new tool to help researchers interpret the clinical significance of somatic mutations in cancer. The tool, known as CancerVar, incorporates machine learning frameworks to go beyond merely identifying somatic cancer mutations and interpret the potential significance of those mutations in terms of cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and targetability. A paper describing CancerVar was published today in Science Advances.

Sloan Kettering Institute’s Dana Pe’er Named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

Dana Pe’er, PhD, computational biologist and lab head at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s (MSK) Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI), is one of 33 biomedical researchers named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator today.

AI Predicts How Patients with Viral Infections, Including COVID-19, Will Fare

UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers discovered gene expression patterns associated with pandemic viral infections, providing a map to help define patients’ immune responses, measure disease severity, predict outcomes and test therapies — for current and future pandemics.

DOE scientists deploy creativity, speed to disrupt COVID-19

An ORNL-led team comprising researchers from multiple DOE national laboratories is using artificial intelligence and computational screening techniques – in combination with experimental validation – to identify and design five promising drug therapy approaches to target the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Preparing for exascale: Aurora supercomputer to help scientists visualize the spread of cancer

In advance of Argonne’s Aurora exascale supercomputer, Duke University assistant professor Amanda Randles is leading a new study to analyze cancer metastasis using HARVEY, a code that simulates blood vessels within the human body.

Science Snapshots: COVID-19, power outages, Alzheimer’s disease, and optical antennas

March Science Snapshots from Berkeley Lab

The AI-driven initiative that’s hastening the discovery of drugs to treat COVID-19

Ten organizations have created a pipeline of artificial intelligence and simulation tools to narrow the search for drug candidates that can inhibit SARS-CoV-2.

Biologists awarded NSF grant to model evolution of Hawaiian plants

The research team will focus on 12 understudied plant groups — including Kadua, Wikstroemia and Psychotria — using new sequencing and modeling techniques to gain a broader idea of how Hawaiian plant diversity originated. The project includes conservation and educational components as well, including collecting new wild specimens for the National Tropical Botanical Garden herbarium.

10 ways Argonne science is combatting COVID-19

Argonne scientists and research facilities have made a difference in the fight against COVID-19 in the year since the first gene sequence for the virus was published.

Argonne AI methods unravel mysteries of SARS-CoV-2 viral-human cell interaction

Using a combination of AI and supercomputing resources, Argonne researchers are examining the dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to determine how it fuses with the human host cell, advancing the search for drug treatments.

Uncovering Novel Genomes from Earth’s Microbiomes

Reported in Nature Biotechnology, the known diversity of bacteria and archaea has been expanded by 44% through a publicly available collection of more than 52,000 microbial genomes from environmental samples resulting from a JGI-led collaboration involving more than 200 scientists around the world.

New Computational Model by CHOP Researchers Identifies Noncoding Mutations Across Five Pediatric Cancers

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed a new computational algorithm that has, for the first time, identified a spectrum of mutations in the noncoding portion of the human genome across five major pediatric cancers. The study, which was published today in Science Advances, used the algorithm to analyze more than 500 pediatric cancer patients’ mutations and gene expression profiles to develop a comprehensive list of potentially cancer-causing mutations.

New View on How Tissues Flow in the Embryo

Watching and measuring what happens in tissues inside the human embryo is currently not possible, and it’s difficult to do in mammalian models. Because humans and the fruit fly Drosophila share so many biological similarities, Columbia Engineering and Syracuse University researchers tackled this problem by focusing on fruit flies. The team reports today that they can predict when the tissue will begin to rapidly flow just by looking at cell shapes in the tissue.

Researchers reveal new understandings of synthetic gene circuits

Recent discoveries by two research teams in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University are advancing the field of synthetic biology. Results from a research collaboration between the lab groups of Assistant Professor Xiaojun Tian and Associate Professor have revealed novel ways that engineered gene circuits interact with biological host cells.

Argonne’s researchers and facilities playing a key role in the fight against COVID-19

Argonne scientists are working around the clock to analyze the virus to find new treatments and cures, predict how it will propagate through the population, and make sure that our supply chains remain intact.

PECASE Honoree Sohini Ramachandran Studies the Genetic Foundations of Traits in Diverse Populations

NIGMS grantee and presidential award recipient Sohini Ramachandran, Ph.D., is challenging our understanding of genetic variation among human populations. She discusses her research on how the genetic composition of traits and diseases varies among populations, the value of statistical and computational work in human genetics, and what this all means for patient treatment.

New Computational Tools Identify Alternative Splicing Changes in Aggressive Cancers

A multi-institutional group of researchers led by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has linked a strong cancer driver gene to changes in proteins that regulate alternative splicing. The researchers created new computational tools and biological model systems for the study. This collaborative research, led by Yi Xing, PhD, at CHOP and Owen Witte, MD, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.