Quantitative Neuroendocrinology
The NIH Roadmap recognizes mathematical modeling and computing as integral parts to modern biomedical research. The recent NIH symposium “Digital Biology: The Emerging Paradigm” (November, 2003) concluded that “… as models replace some experiments and complement others, as lone researchers are supplemented by interdisciplinary teams, there will be a need for an intellectual fusion of biomedicine and information technology.” Thus, the understanding of health and disease evolves from studying the state of components of a living organism to studying the dynamics of the network encompassing these components. It is now evident that the functioning of a complex living system depends to a large extent on its internal conduits and pathways of signaling. As a result, network modeling, systems approach and nonlinear dynamics become tools of choice for the design, analysis and understanding of complex experiments. The presence of in-house faculty/staff with appropriate expertise is justified by the specifics of modeling and computing support - in contrast to traditional statistical consulting it involves continuous interaction between the biomedical and quantitative components of a project, reflected by continuous collaboration between medical researchers and biomathematicians and resulting in custom project-oriented solutions.