352 CATALYZING INQUIRY
be more successful than others is “in silico” simulation of various biological and biomedical processes,
such as offered by AnVil Informatics.^35 Beyond Genomics develops proprietary algorithms that look for
large-scale biological systems such as pathways in gene and protein bioinformatics and experimental
data. A second seemingly successful model is a focus on providing information about pathways and
networks; Ingenuity, Cytoscape, GeneGO, PathArt, are companies that have sought to exploit this niche.
Beyond bioinformatics, vendors are attempting to develop or customize for life sciences customers
a number of IT solutions, including applications for knowledge management, laboratory information
management, and tracking clinical trials (including sophisticated statistical analysis).
A leading example of real computer science research being applied to biology problems is the
application of distributed or grid computing to extremely computation-intensive tasks such as protein
folding simulation. While many IT vendors are developing and pushing their grid platform, Stanford
has been running Folding@Home, a screen-saver that anyone can download and run on a home com-
puter, which calculates a tiny piece of the protein folding problem.^36
10.2.5 Funding and Support,
Both the federal government and private foundations support research at the BioComp interface. (The
latter can be regarded as an offshoot of the historically extensive foundation support for biology research.)
10.2.5.1 General Considerations
10.2.5.1.1 The Role of Funding Institutions Funding institutions obviously exert a great deal of control
and influence over the nature and direction of research. That is, researchers tend to gravitate toward
research problems for which funding is available. Funding agencies can also influence the development
of new talent in the field by encouraging faculty development, as illustrated non-exhaustively below:
- Release time to design new curricula and collect successful course material. However, as in peer-
reviewed scientific research, the fruits of these efforts should be made public, and their successes or
limitations should be openly available (e.g., as online courses or published material). - Supervision of undergraduate special projects or research at the BioComp interface. Special
projects for one or a few undergraduates (e.g., summer student projects, undergraduate theses) can be
undertaken with minimal risk, and facilitating early exposure to a variety of ideas would benefit both
students and faculty. - Support for individuals who wish to make the transition to research at the BioComp interface
early in their careers. Such individuals may lack the publication track record that would enable more
senior researchers to undertake such a transition. Thus, support dedicated to such people may facilitate
early career transitions and all of the accompanying benefits.
10.2.5.1.2 The Review Process A central dimension of funding institutions is the review process they
employ to decide what research to support. Different institutions have different styles, but they all face
the same types of issues.
- Excellence. No institution wants to support mediocre research. But as suggested below in Section
10.3.1, definitions of excellence are in many ways field-specific. Thus, an effective review process must
find ways of managing this tension when proposals cross disciplinary lines.
(^35) See http://www.anvilinformatics.com.
(^36) See http://folding.stanford.edu. Perhaps the most famous of such distributed applications is SETI@Home, a program that
supports the data processing underlying the search for extraterrestrial life.