Emerging Computational Methods for the Life Sciences Workshop 2012

Computing systems are rapidly changing with multicore, graphics processing units (GPUs), clusters, volunteer systems, clouds, and grids offering a confusing dazzling array of opportunities. New programming paradigms such as Google MapReduce and many-task computing have joined the traditional repertoire of workflow and parallel computing for the highest performance systems. Meanwhile, the life sciences are continuing to expand in data generated with continuing improvement in the instruments for high-throughput analysis. This ‘fourth paradigm’ (data driven science) is joined by complex systems or biocomplexity that can build phenomenological models of biological systems and processes. This special issue for Emerging Computational Methods for the Life Sciences Workshop ECMLS2012 [1], juxtaposes these trends seeking those computational methods that will enhance scientific discovery. Within this overall scope, this special issue encouraged researchers to submit and present original work related to the latest trends in parallel and distributed high-performance systems applied to life science problems. Important contributions have been provided by Weber et al. [2], Yang et al. [3], Elllingson et al. [4], Hamacher et al. [5], Cushing et al. [6], and Stanberry et al. [7]. These contributions focus on: