Enter a computer program called spice (simulation program for integrated circuit evaluation), which was developed at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1970s. spice allowed engineers to analyze their electronic circuits and predict, more or less accurately, how they would work before they were built. There would always be bugs to iron out, but at least the program pointed chip designers in the right direction.
Arkin is developing a similar program he calls bio/spice that he hopes will do for the cell what spice did for the chip. His first targets are simple bacteria. "They're still complicated enough that we get depressed," Arkin admits with a laugh. But he has already had some success grouping reactions together by the kinds of jobs they do. And, sure enough, some of them bear a remarkable resemblance to the gates and switches of an electronic circuit.
Of course, no one knows for sure whether Arkin or anyone else will be able to develop a working computer model of the cell. But it's the sort of project that could keep scientists busy for another 100 years.
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Name: Adam Arkin Age: 33 Why critics are taking note: Arkin, a physical chemist, is trying to create a computer model of how the cell works |
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Dynamical Genomics
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Email Adam Arkin your questions. Mailbag will post all the answers here next week.
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