Our Science
How can we systematically discover emergent properties, dissect them, predict them, and understand their origins and their roles in life?
NCEMS accelerates discovery in the molecular and cellular sciences by enabling teams of scientists ranging from physicists to cell biologists and bioengineers to use the latest data science and computational methods.
The center’s scientific vision is to understand the unexpected appearance of new biological system properties at different scales of composition, space, time, energy, information, and motion. Its initial focus is on emergent properties at the mesoscale, the scale between biomolecules and organelles, and their influence on higher subcellular and cellular outcomes. The complexity and lack of understanding of mesoscale phenomena and the availability of vast amounts of publicly available data spanning molecular to phenotypic properties makes this an exciting area of synthesis research that is ripe for novel discoveries.
Data and Community Powered Innovation
The center is catalyzing research by creating a synthesis community of diverse scientists, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers, along with providing cyberinfrastructure and advanced support for statistical modeling, machine learning, and systems modeling. NCEMS removes barriers to large-scale synthesis research by providing a range of support to working groups, center postdoctoral fellows, and the broader community.
Our Approach
Learn more about some of the initial scientific themes and compelling questions center participants are thinking about.
