New Research Center at Rutgers-Camden

In a world in which high-tech tools and methods define how scientists know the body and the natural world, a new research center at Rutgers-Camden will allow scholars from diverse disciplines to share knowledge and advance their research in innovative directions.

The Rutgers-Camden Center for Computational and Integrative Biology (CCIB) will stimulate research of biological systems using tools from traditional biomedical disciplines (such as biology, chemistry, psychology, and physics) and applying complex analysis methods from mathematics and computer science.

Rutgers-Camden already has research success in this holistic approach with the development of a mathematical explanation for the benefits of white noise that could lead to major improvements in hearing aid technology and new insight in tracking cell-to-cell communication.

“Since the recent completion of the genome projects, biologists now have a ‘parts list’ and understand many of the details of the functions of the parts. It seems natural that the next step will be to try to understand how the individual parts cooperate in the action of the whole system. Since the parts are extremely numerous, it will take sophisticated computational techniques to analyze their interactions,” states Joseph Martin, a professor of biology at Rutgers-Camden, where he also is acting director of the CCIB.

The Rutgers-Camden Center for Computational and Integrative Biology will play a significant role in Camden’s planned Integrative Biology and Genomic Medicine Institute, a collaborative facility established through $50 million in funding from the State of New Jersey for Rutgers-Camden, the Coriell Institute, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and Cooper University Hospital.

Martin predicts that the collaborating scientists in this Camden institute will find rapid applications in new treatments for diseases ranging from diabetes to cardiac disorders.

“The research discoveries from the Integrative Biology and Genomic Medicine Institute, as well as the implementation of their practical applications, will provide a rich treasure trove for expanding the biotech community of Camden and southern New Jersey and will offer a hugely beneficial effect on the region’s economy,” adds Martin.

In addition to advancing world-class faculty research at Rutgers-Camden, the new CCIB will provide unique opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Rutgers-Camden students can assist faculty members on various collaborative research projects and attend on-campus lectures by top national scientists, such as a lecture on the complexity in biological systems and implications for biomedicine to be offered by Joseph Loscalzo of Harvard Medical School on Nov. 30.

A major goal of the center is to eventually offer a doctoral degree in integrative and computational biology on the Rutgers-Camden campus; few programs currently offer training in this interdisciplinary area.

The Camden Campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, offers 34 undergraduate and 16 master’s-level programs, as well as the nation’s first PhD program in childhood studies. Located in the heart of the vibrant Camden Waterfront, Rutgers-Camden is home to 260 faculty whose research, teaching, and service endeavors are respected worldwide.

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Author: Press Release-Rutgers-Camden