Bridging the Culture Gap

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Bridging the Culture Gap

• Presented By
• Dela Rosa, Paolo
• Diaz, Maria Aiko Angela
• Lumibao, Candice
• Rañoa, Diana Rose

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Linking Physics to Molecular Biology
http//scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/
http//www.barnett.neu.edu/ Progr/biology.htm
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Contributions of Physics in the past decades
X-ray crystallography
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
Molecular forces Enzyme
energetics
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Some Physicists turned Biologists
http//linkage.rockefeller.edu/wli/dna_corr/right.
html
Max Delbr?ck
Francis Crick
http//www.genoscope.cns.fr/extere/HistoireBM/
http//www.nacion.co.cr/ln_ee/ESPECIALES/
siglo/siglo7/siglo10.html
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The two fields drift apart
PHYSICS
vs.
BIOLOGY

• Theory driven
• Uses mathematics to represent the laws of nature
• Essence is to simplify

• Empirical and descriptive science
• Relies on words and diagrams to describe
  functions of living things
• Essence is to dig up the smallest details

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Dilemma of Biologists in the Post-Genomic Era
What biologists understand
What biologists DONT understand

• Protein chemistry
• Genetic information transmission

• Signal transduction
• Integration of biological function
• Evolution

Nat Cell Biol 1, 438-443
Nature 171, 737-738 (1953)
http//complex.upc.es/ricard/ complexnets.html
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Dilemma of Biologists in the Post-Genomic Era

• Proliferation of DNA sequences and profiles of
  gene expression and protein production

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Potential role of Physics in Biology

• To devise tools useful in analyzing and
  interpreting experimental data
• To apply methods for examining physical and
  chemical properties of macromolecules
• To make analytical and computational models

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Problems Encountered

• Some biologists perceive physicists-turned-biologi
  sts as interlopers
• Some physicists-turned-biologists are having a
  hard time adjusting to the culture of biologists
  and framing biological questions

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Ways of bridging the gap

• The US National Science Foundation awarded a 5.5
  M five-year grant to the Center for Theoretical
  Biological Physics (CTBP) at UC San Diego
• Establishment of Bauer Laboratory in Harvard that
  focuses on Genomics Research

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Ways of bridging the gap

• Modules as units of biological function
• Definition A collection of molecules that
  perform a given function
• Proposed Properties
• 1. Components appear and disappear together
  during evolution
• 2. Modules are units of integration
• 3. Selections acts primarily at the level of
  modules

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Cracking the Mould
Physicists attempt to explain cellular behavior
in molecular terms by generating computer models.
Example Dictyostelium discoideum cell fusion
through biochemical signaling during food
scarcity (Herbert Levine, University of
California)
Quantitative prediction
Repressive signals
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Cracking the Mould
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Cracking the Mould
But the ultimate goal for the physicists now
entering the world of molecular biology is to
derive fundamental principles that help to
explain the characteristics of many biological
systems
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Cracking the Mould
Biologists traditionally regard cellular
processes as sensitive and well-balanced.
Cells can stand noises and perturbations.
(Leibler)
Circadian clock remains the same regardless of
temperature or nutrients.
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Cracking the Mould
A system that relied on a simple negative
feedback loop to cause the production of a
biochemical signal to oscillate up and down over
time would not tick reliably against a noisy
background, whereas one based on a fluctuating
balance of positive and negative influences would
be relatively insensitive to this interference.
(Leibler)
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This figure is taken from ttp//images.google.com/
images?qphosphorylation mechanismhl enlrie
ISO-8859-1
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FRESH PERSPECTIVES
physicist
biologist
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Science
physical
biological
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References

• Knight, Jonathan. Bridging the culture gap,
  Nature. Vol. 419, Sept. 2002.
• Murray, Andrew. Can Physics save Biology?
  Lecture. 27 Sept. 2002.
• http//www.aps.org/meet/biology-physics/program.ht
  ml2
• http//www.aps.org/apsnews/0899/089915.html

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The End