The Cambridge Computational Biology Institute (CCBI) has been launched with a symposium this week, reflecting the strength and diversity of the research in this multidisciplinary field both within the University and elsewhere.

The symposium, which took place on Wednesday, attracted a great number of people and included an exciting programme of talks with speakers on subjects ranging from neuroscience to engineering, mathematical biology and physics, as well as the emerging field of systems biology. The symposium demonstrated how mathematical and computing methods are becoming an integral part of biological research.

Amongst others, neurobiologist Professor Simon Laughlin from the Department of Zoology explored the computing limits of the brain; Dr Drew Endy from the new Biology Engineering Institute at MIT discussed how to build biological systems and Professor Daniel Wolpert presented information on sensorimotor control in the context of the human nervous system.

“We are very pleased with the number of people who attended the symposium as it reiterates our belief that this is a very exciting field,” said Dr Gos Micklem, Director of the CCBI. “We are looking forward to some interesting collaborations in the near future.”

The CCBI aims to bring together the unique strengths of Cambridge in medicine, biology, mathematics and the physical sciences. It was set up to create new cross-Cambridge research projects, form new collaborations and create interdisciplinary degree programmes. The Cambridge Computational Biology Institute is based in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) at the University of Cambridge.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.