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Disciplines collaborate to probe biosystems by Cindy Abole Public Relations There's a new convergence of science happening between biologists, mathematicians and computer scientists that's breaking new ground in the understanding of complex biological systems.   It goes beyond today's study of cells and genes on a molecular level, but instead steps back to look at the bigger picture of systems and their regulation.  Throughout the country and around the globe, research institutions are recognizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to help solve biological questions using mathematical methods. This shift in perspective brings together a new level of scientific understanding that can ultimately affect the future of medical research, molecular biology and biotechnology in the 21st century. At MUSC, no one understands this better than Eberhard O. Voit, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biometry and Epidemiology. Voit will present an hour-long lecture, entitled “Understanding Complex Biological Systems: Challenges, Methods and Partial Solutions,” from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23, in room 809, Storm Eye Institute Auditorium. The lecture will cover in a conceptual fashion material from his recent book, “Computational Analysis of Biochemical Systems: A Practical Guide for Biochemists and Molecular Biologists, published by Cambridge University Press, 2000. It is Voit's intention to target seminar participants within but also outside of the Department of Biometry and Epidemiology. He hopes this event will be especially beneficial to biologists, research clinicians, pharmacologists and other scientists who would like to gain insight in this growing field of interdisciplinary science. By promising to show just a minimum of math, Voit is hoping to attract a general mix of students and professionals with non-technical talk, which has the purpose of “whetting the appetite” of his audience. “I am confident that students and colleagues with an open mind and a willingness to explore new concepts can rather quickly learn how to apply these basic math tools to their own research,” Voit said. The efforts around the Human Genome Project have not only led to a draft map of the genetic makeup of human beings but are also producing enormous volumes of other valuable data and scientific information. Today, leading scientists agree that incorporating these data into mathematical and computational methods is an important step in helping us to understand how genes and metabolism interact, said Voit. “We're living in a time that history may one day describe as the golden era of mathematical modeling,” said Voit regarding new conceptual and mathematical frameworks that are based on theorems and analytical and numerical methods. Voit credits the blossoming of modeling with the advent of computers and data management tools, along with the explosion in the amount of biological data and with a recent deviation from the long-held scientific world view of reductionism, which looks at complicated systems by analyzing each part at its own level and one at a time. Voit, who has been with the Department of Biometry and Epidemiology since 1986, was the first student to combine a Master's degree in biology with a minor in mathematics at the University in Cologne, Germany. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan that introduced him to the analysis of complex systems in biochemistry, using the mathematical methods of canonical modeling with S-systems. “Modeling will never replace good biology or long-term data collection,” Voit said. “We're hoping to use the concepts of canonical analysis as a tool that complements existing methods in biology.” For more information about the seminar, contact the Department of Biometry and Epidemiology, 876-1100 or visit their website <http://www.biometry.musc.edu>.