June 13th, 2002 by

Computer simulation of cells may replace laboratory work

Stephen Strauss, The Globe and Mail

Is the laboratory’s ubiquitous petri dish about to be displaced by a computer simulation so sophisticated it can replicate the complete life cycle of a single cell?

And will the appearance of a four-dimensional “virtual cell” turn the current hit-or-miss world of new drug development into something that closer to a predictable science?

The answer to both questions seems to be a guarded “yes” according to researchers involved with a new Canadian-led effort to simulate in a computer the E. coli bacteria’s life history.

Michael Ellison, a biologist at the University of Alberta, told a session of the BIO 2002 conference yesterday that his group believes that in three years they will have a rough working model of such a computer-generated life form.

“The implication of being able to simulate life on a computer is that you can do research and make discoveries far more quickly and cheaply and efficiently than the work done now,” the University of Alberta biochemist who heads up what is known as Project Cybercell told reporters.

Currently, one of the big stumbling blocks for drug development is the haphazard way new drugs are discovered. In the main, companies simply test compounds on cells or animals to see if there is any discernible effect. If they find a potentially useful reaction, they manipulate the drug in a number of ways. They then go through the same generalized testing again to see if any of their manipulations has increased the potency of the chemical they are studying.

A virtual cell holds out the possibility of seeing how a potentially beneficial chemical affects an entire cell in a few minutes. The “whole” approach is required because biologists now suspect that how a cell reacts to a disease or a drug is not a function of a single gene or protein being turned on or off, but reflects an essential change in the way the total cell functions.

June 12th, 2002 by

Cybercell presents at Bio 2002

Project Cybercell presented itself to the global biotech community at the Bio 2002 meeting of 15,600 particpants at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Dr. Mike Ellison hosted the 90 minute session which featured presentations by Dr. Joel Weiner on challenges in the biochemistry of the Cybercell; Dr. David Wishart on Cyberinformatics; the Cybercell databases; Dr. Frank Meyer of Computer Modelling Group on 4-d simulations of the Cybercell and by Colin Hill of GNS on the genetic circuitry of the Cybercell.

The gathered crowd showed great interest in both the content of the presentations and the concept of the Cybercell in a lively questions and answer session after the presentations. The media was in attendance and their interest generated an article in the Globe and Mail as well as a series of interviews on CBC radio featuring Dr. Ellison.

Dr. Ellison will also be presenting Project Cybercell on Discovery TV this fall.

June 6th, 2002 by

CyberCell awarded $4.7m from Alberta Government

High-tech research into experimental treatments

Neco Cockburn, Journal Staff Writer, Edmonton Journal

…Project CyberCell, a collaborative effort involving the universities of Alberta, Calgary and Lethbridge, was given $4.7 million to build a cell on a computer.

“When complete, the cell will be useful in a number of ways,” said Joel Weiner, the project’s scientific director.

“We could propose how a drug will act or how a cell will function in a particular environment,” he said, adding researchers will be able to determine the effects mutations have on a cell.

Weiner said CyberCell researchers are currently collecting data. And, over the next few years, they will attempt to complete the first step of the project, computer modelling E. Coli bacteria cell.

Weiner said the project will provide a number of high-tech jobs and attract graduate students to the university, which he considers a world leader in the biology field. “There are a number of projects in different countries, and we’re clearly in front,” he said, estimating it will be about 10 years before a human cell is replicated in the computer.

“All we have is a parts list, and we have no idea how the parts go together. It’s like getting an IKEA kit without the schematic, and you have a whole bunch of different parts sitting in front of you,” he said.

We’re trying to figure out from the parts how to put this thing together, and build it bit by bit until we have a cell.”