The goal of computational and systems biology is to apply large-scale numerical methods to the study of molecular, cellular and structural biology.

The release of the human genome sequence has focused attention on the increasing importance of computational and systems biology for the analysis of gene function. However, only a small fraction of the information generated in modern biology labs has been subjected to systematic computational analysis. Thus, the future of systems biology lies not only in improved methods to study sequence information but also in the development of entirely new approaches to the numerical analysis of proteins, cells and organisms.

Research groups in the MIT Department of Biology are working on a wide range of computational problems including gene finding and analysis, structure predication and protein design, network-based signal analysis and image informatics. These diverse programs are united in their focus on design and prediction, algorithm and database development and the use of advanced computing. Research in the Department is suitable for students with a biology background who are interested in computation as well as for students with computation and physical science training who are interested in biology.

Faculty with research programs in computational and systems biology: