Editors for Computational and Systems Biology

We aim to publish studies that use computational methods, models and software to provide important biological insights in all areas of the life sciences. Read the latest research in this subject area.

Type

All sections

Senior editors

Naama Barkai

Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Naama Barkai is a systems and computational biologist interested in how bio-molecular circuits are designed. She joined the Weizmann Institute in 1999, following a post-doc (Princeton) and graduate studies (Hebrew University) in physics. She is currently chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics, and the head of the Azrieli and Kahan Centers for Systems Biology at the Weizmann Institute. In 2013, Barkai was elected to a Vallee Foundation Visiting Professorship and awarded the Abisch Frankel prize.

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
systems biology
modeling
functional genomics
yeast genetics
morphogen gradients

Competing interests statement
Naama Barkai's main funding sources are from the European Research Council (ERC), the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), Minerva, and the Bi-national Science Foundation (BSF). Barkai also serves on the editorial board of Development.
Ronald L Calabrese

Emory University, United States

Ron Calabrese earned his BS in Biochemistry from Cornell University and a PhD in Neurobiology from Stanford University. He has been on the Faculty of the Department of Biology, Emory University since 1986 and is currently the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology and Senior Associate Dean for Research. Calabrese's research focuses on the cellular mechanisms of motor control by central pattern generator (CPG) networks and the importance and implications of individual variation for network function and motor performance. His group uses an invertebrate model system, leeches, and focuses on the CPG that controls the beating of the animals two coordinated hearts. His research closely integrates electrophysiological experiments and computational modeling. They are particularly excited about their discovery, in collaboration with GS Cymbalyuk, that the Na/K pump current contributes to the bursting dynamics of oscillator neurons that pace the CPG, and in their recent eLife publication on output variability across animals and levels in a the leech-heartbeat motor system. Calabrese has been actively engaged in training 12 doctoral students, 2 masters' students, and 22 postdoctoral fellows. In 2017, he received the Award for Education in Neuroscience of the Society for Neuroscience.

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
motor pattern generation
neuronal and small networks models
electrophysiological properties of neurons and synapse
computational neuroscience

Experimental organism
leech

Competing interests statement
Over the past 30 years, Ron Calabrese has been consistently supported by NIH R01 grants. Since 2015, Calabrese has been a regular member of the SMI study section of NIH.
Aleksandra Walczak

Ecole Normale Superieure, France

Aleksandra Walczak received her PhD in physics at UCSD working on models of stochastic gene expression. After a graduate fellowship at KITP, she was a Princeton Center for Theoretical Science Fellow, focusing on applying information theory to signal processing in small gene regulatory networks. Currently she is a CNRS researcher at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, interested in a variety of problems in the physics of living systems.

She actively works on development, collective behavior of bird flocks and statistical descriptions of the immune system.

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
systems biology
gene regulatory networks
immune system
population genetics

Competing interests statement
Aleksandra Walczak is the recipient of a CNRS-Chicago Cooperation Grant, a FACCTS CNRS-Chicago Cooperation Grant, an IRN CNRS Predictability, Adaptability Evolution network collaboration grant, a CNRS-MIT Cooperation Grant, a q-Life Grant "The physics of repair and silencing foci?, an ERC Proof of Concept Grant "Automated evaluation and correction of generation bias in immune receptor repertoires", a DFG CRC "Predictability in evolution", an ERC International Training Network QuanTII grant, and an ERC Consolidator Grant "Statistical physics of immune-viral co-evolution”.
Patricia Wittkopp

University of Michigan, United States

Patricia Wittkopp received a BS from the University of Michigan, a PhD from the University of Wisconsin, and did postdoctoral work at Cornell University. In 2005, she began a faculty position at the University of Michigan, where she is now an Arthur F Thurnau Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, and LSA Honors Program. Her research investigates the genetic basis of phenotypic evolution, with an emphasis on the evolution of gene expression. Molecular and developmental biology, population and quantitative genetics, genomics and bioinformatics are integrated in this work. She was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellow, an Alfred P Sloan Research Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient of a March of Dimes Starter Scholar Award, the Margaret Dayhoff Mid-Career Award from the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution, and the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Genetics and Genomics
Evolutionary Biology

Research focus
evolutionary genetics
evolution and development
gene expression
regulatory networks
allele-specific expression

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
S. cerevisiae

Competing interests statement
Patricia Wittkopp has received research support from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, March of Dimes, Alfred P Sloan Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is currently an Associate Editor of Molecular Biology and Evolution and GENETICS, and serves on the Advisory Editorial Board of Trends in Genetics.

Reviewing editors

Nir Ben-Tal

Tel Aviv University, Israel

Expertise
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
structural bioinformatics
structure, function and motion in membrane proteins
protein interactions
Carl T Bergstrom

University of Washington, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
metaresearch
science of science
science studies
metaknowledge
philosophy of science
bibliometrics
Gordon Berman

Emory University, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
theorectical and computational biophysics
animal behavior
bio-locomotion
computational neuroscience
machine learning
dimensionality reduction
dynamical systems

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
mouse
rat
human
Alexander Borst

Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Germany

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
computation
vision
insect
motion detection
neurogenetics
compartmental modeling

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
Nyasha Chambwe

St Jude Children's Research Hospital, United States

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Computational and Systems Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
bioinformatics
computational biology
cancer genomics
population genomics
data analysis

Experimental organism
human
Ben Cooper

Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Thailand

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Epidemiology and Global Health

Research focus
population biology of communicable diseases
antimicrobial resistance
epidemiological methods
Noah J Cowan

The Johns Hopkins University, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Evolutionary Biology
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
sensorimotor control
active sensing
navigation
biomechanics
robotics
control theory
motor learning
Charlotte M Deane

University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
structural bioinformatics computational methods
protein folding
protein structure prediction
protein structure evolution
Job Dekker

University of Massachusetts Medical School, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Chromosomes and Gene Expression

Research focus
spatial organisation of genomes
chromatin interaction networks

Experimental organism
S. cerevisiae
Michael Doebeli

University of British Columbia, Canada

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology

Research focus
mathematical modelling
evolution of diversity
social insects
ecology and evolution of microbial communities
Jennifer Flegg

University of Melbourne, Australia

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Epidemiology and Global Health

Research focus
mathematical modelling
infectious disease dynamics
wound healing
tumour modelling
Sarel Fleishman

Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
molecular recognition
computational protein design
protein folding
antibody
enzyme design
David D Ginty

HHMI, Harvard Medical School, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Developmental Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
somatosensation
mouse molecular genetics
sensory neuron development
sensory neuron physiology
spinal cord physiology
development of the peripheral nervous system

Experimental organism
mouse
Frederik Graw

Heidelberg University, Germany

Expertise
Immunology and Inflammation
Computational and Systems Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
mathematical modelling
theoretical immunology
host-pathogen interactions
viral spread
infection dynamics

Experimental organism
mouse
viruses
Thorsten Kahnt

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
learning
decision making
olfaction
orbitofrontal cortex
dopamine
computational modeling
fMRI
transcranial magnetic stimulation

Experimental organism
human
Caleb Kemere

Rice University, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
computational tools for hippocampal electrophysiological signals
place cells
replay
hippocampal rhythms
Mary B Kennedy

California Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
synaptic plasticity
synaptic regulation
biochemical signal transduction networks
systems biology

Experimental organism
mouse
rat
Sandeep Krishna

National Centre for Biological Sciences ‐ Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
gene regulatory networks
phage-bacteria interactions
microbial communities
multistability
oscillations and synchronization
Christian R Landry

Universite Laval, Canada

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Evolutionary Biology

Research focus
systems biology
evolution
molecular evolution
synthetic biology
hybridization

Experimental organism
S. cerevisiae
S. paradoxus
Peter Latham

University College London, United Kingdom

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
computational neuroscience
bayesian inference
network dynamics
neural coding
synaptic plasticity
Andrei Lupas

Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Germany

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
bacterial surface proteins
bioinformatics
coiled coils
protein design
protein evolution
protein structure
transmembrane signal tranduction
Andrea E Martin

Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Netherlands
Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Netherlands

Expertise
Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
language
speech
cognition
computational modeling
oscillations
structured representations in neural systems
magnetoencephalography (MEG)
electroencephalography (EEG)
neuroimaging

Experimental organism
human
Markus Meister

California Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
computational neuroscience
theoretical neuroscience
systems neuroscience
vision
retina
superior colliculus
electrophysiology
magnetoreception
Alan Moses

University of Toronto, Canada

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
data analysis
bioinformatics
molecular evolution
intrinsically disordered proteins
signaling pathways
regulatory networks

Experimental organism
S. cerevisiae
Richard A Neher

University of Basel, Switzerland

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Evolutionary Biology

Research focus
population genetics
evolution of RNA viruses
bioinformatics
Armita Nourmohammad

University of Washington, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Immunology and Inflammation

Research focus
population genetics
computational immunology
adaptive immunity
statistical physics
deep mutational scanning
information theory
statistical inference
gene expression evolution

Experimental organism
D. melanogaster
human
viruses
Srdjan Ostojic

École Normale Supérieure, France

Expertise
Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
computational neuroscience
network dynamics
neural computations
population coding
neural circuits
plasticity
Stephen Parker

University of Michigan, United States

Expertise
Genetics and Genomics
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
diabetes
disease susceptibility
functional genomics
comparative genomics
population genomics

Experimental organism
human
mouse
rat
Chris Ponting

University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
computational genomics
long non-coding RNAs
functional genomics
transcription factors

Experimental organism
human
mouse
Molly Przeworski

Columbia University, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
evolutionary biology
population genetics
human genetics
meiotic recombination
germline mutation
natural selection

Experimental organism
primates
human
Janice L Robertson

Washington University in St. Louis, United States

Expertise
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Computational and Systems Biology
Physics of Living Systems
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

Research focus
membrane protein folding
computational modeling
oligomerization
membrane transport
driving forces
lipids
Agnese Seminara

Université Côte d'Azur, France

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
biomechanics of bacterial biofilm growth
violent discharge
atmospheric dispersal of fungal spores
computational navigation

Experimental organism
B. subtilis
mouse
John T Serences

University of California, San Diego, United States

Expertise
Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
attention
working memory
short-term memory
decision making
neural coding
information processing
Yibing Shan

DE Shaw Research, United States

Expertise
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
computational structural biology
signaling
computational chemistry
molecular dynamics
computer-aided drug design
protein kinases
small G protein
receptor tyrosine kinases
Wenying Shou

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Genetics and Genomics

Research focus
quantitative biology
mathematical biology
evolutionary biology
synthetic biology
molecular genetics
evolution of cooperation
computer simulations

Experimental organism
S. cerevisiae
Cassidy Sugimoto

Indiana University Bloomington, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
metaresearch
science of science
science policy
gender
scholarly communication
Thomas Surrey

The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom

Expertise
Cell Biology
Computational and Systems Biology
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

Research focus
cytoskeleton
microtubules
motor proteins
self-organization
cell division
mitotic spindle
in vitro reconstitution
fluorescence microscopy

Experimental organism
human
Xenopus
M Dawn Teare

Newcastle University, United Kingdom

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Epidemiology and Global Health
Medicine

Research focus
statistics
population genetics
epidemiology
Alfonso Valencia

Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
bioinformatics
computational biology
structural bioinformatics
co-evolution
cancer genomics
text mining
Mark CW van Rossum

University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
computational neuroscience
synaptic plasticity
noise in neural systems
the early visual system
retina
David Van Valen

California Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Physics of Living Systems
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
encoding
viral decision making
living systems
image segmentation
Gaël Varoquaux

INRIA, France

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
human brain connectivity
machine learning

Experimental organism
human
Timothy Verstynen

Carnegie Mellon University, United States

Expertise
Computational and Systems Biology
Neuroscience

Research focus
neuroscience
white matter
brain sensorimotor pathways
plasticity
action planning
decision-making
complex skill learning
obesity
basal ganglia
striatum
drift diffusion models
attractor networks

Experimental organism
human
Martin Vinck

Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Germany

Expertise
Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Biology

Research focus
neural coding
vision
computation
behavioral State
functional connectivity
cell types
oscillations
predictive coding

Experimental organism
mouse
rat
human
R.macaque