World’s first computer model of organism created

Researchers have created the world’s first computer model of an organism.

Stanford scientists used over 900 scientific articles to account for every molecular interaction that takes place in the world’s smallest free-living bacteria to create the model.

It was made to depict the life cycle of a Mycoplasma genitalium, reported TG Daily.

"This achievement demonstrates a transforming approach to answering questions about fundamental biological processes," said James M. Anderson of the National Institutes of Health, according to the Stanford University News.

"Comprehensive computer models of entire cells have the potential to advance our understanding of cellular function and, ultimately, to inform new approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of disease."

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According to the New York Times, the breakthrough will help scientists address issues that might be too hard to examine on real organisms.

It is also a breakthrough for the use of computers in bioengineering.

“Where I think our work is different is that we explicitly include all of the genes and every known gene function,” said Markus Covert, assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford.

“There’s no one else out there who has been able to include more than a handful of functions or more than, say, one-third of the genes.”

The technology was outlined in this months issue of the journal Cell.