Model Behaviour

Think of biomedical research and you probably imagine scientists in white coats doing experiments in a lab. Recent advances in computing and data science are opening up new ways to investigate life and health. Rather than getting their hands dirty in the lab, many researchers are building sophisticated computer simulations, known as models, to understand how complex systems like cells, organisms and populations behave and what happens when things change. To create these models, researchers combine data from existing biological systems with sophisticated algorithms, then see how well the resulting simulation mirrors what happens in real life. This colourful animated mosaic is the result of a new model for how bacteria grow on a surface, which is more representative of reality than previous simpler models. Having accurate, lifelike models is important for finding out what happens when conditions are altered or predicting the likely effects of drugs or other treatments.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

Writer

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Video by Phillip J. Brown
• School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA, Australia
• Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
• Published in bioRxiv, February 2021 (not peer reviewed)