The limits of molecular biology

Limits of computational biology

Are we close to a complete inventory of living processes so that we might expect in the near future to reproduce every essential aspect necessary for life? Or are there mechanisms and processes in cells and organisms that are presently inaccessible to us? Here I argue that a close examination of a particularly well-understood system--that of Escherichia coli chemotaxis--shows we are still a lon...

The 15th Iranian National Congress of Biochemistry & 6th International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Synthetic Biology at the Limits of Science

246 words) What happens when some of the traditional questions and concerns of the philosophy of science are brought to the non-traditional field of synthetic biology? Given that synthetic biology is a very diverse field, this might serve to highlight the many ways in which it is business as usual. However, prominent concepts and research practices of synthetic biology can be seen to confound e...

The molecular biology frontier.

To begin my personal reflection of Circulation Research, I would like to congratulate Eduardo Marbán and all the other Editors in commemoration of 50 years of this venerable journal. It is really a most honorable privilege for me to write this editorial, for Circulation Research was highly influential in encouraging me as a clinical cardiologist to become a scientific researcher. In 1970, I sta...

Molecular Biology of the Gene

The tremendous advances of recent years in molecular biology warrant a summary statement of our knowledge in the form of a text for the beginner in the field. James D. Watson, 1962 Nobelist in Physiology and Medicine, has superbly filled this need with his lucid account of the Molecular Biology of the Gene. As the author has aimed his report toward the nonspecialist, he has assumed only the inf...