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Concept | About | Mission | Research & Partnerships | Summary Concept The Center for the Study of Biological Complexity was established in 2001 in response to dramatic advances in the life sciences from genomic research, best known for the federally funded $3 billion Human Genome Project that identified the 20,000 human genes; that is, the total human genetic parts list. Similar genome projects are identifying the genetic complements of over 100 microbial genomes has shown that these organisms are host to the vast majority of the entire gene pool. Together, this work has provided the life scientists with ‘component lists’, i.e., the genes that encode for the proteins that are required for life. A glance at GenBank, the major repository for these gene sequences, shows that the genomic data is accumulating at rates that defy Moore’s Law – the law that predicts exponential growth in the capacity of computer chips. Fortunately, information technologies as applied to biological problems, or Bioinformatics, have advanced in parallel with genomics, and bioinformaticists have developed new technologies to process, compare and analyze the colossal new genomic data sets. These new technologies have driven a paradigm shift in life science research, and now permit us to apply the computational and mathematical principles of “Systems Biology” and “Complexity Science” in the study of complex living systems.
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